Gordon D'Arcy: Leinster should forget about silencing the critics - just listen to the clarion call

Irish Times

a day ago

Success in sport is rarely a linear pathway. More often there is a fair bit of rerouting after venturing into some culs-de-sac or hitting the odd speed bump or wobble.
In 2009
Leinster
won the Heineken Cup for the first time. The following season we believed ourselves to be equally motivated and hungry to repeat the dose but found out that the theoretical and practical weren't quite aligned.
We topped our pool, squeezed past Clermont Auvergne at the RDS before coming a cropper against Toulouse in a semi-final in La Ville Rose. To compound matters we lost the Celtic League Grand Final to a strong Ospreys team in our backyard, the RDS. I still haven't come to terms with Tommy Bowe's jersey grab that stopped me making a tackle. To make matters worse he was one of their two try-scorers that day.
I remember standing on the pitch, the tension so thick you could almost bite it, our faces serious but we were definitely overcooked – mentally and physically – at the wrong point in the week on match day.
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Shaun Beirne, an Australian outhalf, brought a wealth of experience to Leinster, as well as an appreciation that playing sport was to be enjoyed for the most part, not simply endured. He tried to lift the mood, with words that I can still recall.
'Lads, it's meant to be fun, remember that.'
Just like that, the mood shifted, a couple of smiles emerged. The pressure didn't disappear, but we carried it differently, we learned to embrace it.
A decade and a half later and Leinster find themselves on the cusp of another watershed moment as they prepare for Saturday's
URC
final against the Bulls at Croke Park. Few teams get to be choosy about silverware, so while Leinster might have preferred a fifth star to signify another European crown, it's not the time to be sniffy about winning a different trophy.
The URC might not carry the romance or glamour of a Champions Cup, but it is a brutally tough competition to win, something that Leinster have come to realise over the past four years. They bear the scars of defeat. Saturday provides an opportunity to finish a turbulent season on a high note.
Leinster's Joe McCarthy wins a lineout at the Leinster v Glasgow Warriors URC semi-final game at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Leinster's campaigns in Europe and domestically promised so much but that anticipation and expectation has been replaced by disparate emotions. Criticism has come, piled high – some of it fair, a lot exaggerated – while the vast majority has emerged from the strange, pixelated universe of social media, a space that doesn't reflect real-world sentiment as much as it claims to.
It's a place where nuance dies and reaction rules. Unfortunately, it also tends to become the echo chamber for those that seek out kindred spirits in outlook and opinion. It doesn't matter how small or niche the vox pop.
Leinster, for all their consistency and high performance over the last decade, have found themselves the victims of some serious schadenfreude in recent weeks. There are people, plenty of them, who get a bit of joy out of seeing Leinster fall short.
That's part of the deal when you've set the bar so high. Winning isn't enough when you're expected to prevail. It's treated as if it's a bit ho-hum. But when you don't, critics are gleeful in their disparagement.
What's interesting – and frankly refreshing – is that this time the Leinster players have clearly had enough of it. Joe McCarthy and Jack Conan both came out and made it known that the criticism is being heard, and that they're keen to answer back.
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Leinster driven by siege mentality ahead of URC showdown with Bulls
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Maybe what I've written has be taken in that same vein, but I loved hearing that. Too often the modern professional is in a verbal straitjacket, locked into a script, sanitised, safe, coached to be on-message. It's good to see some emotion every now and then.
But, of course, calling it out brings its own pressure. Acknowledging the digital elephant in the room is one thing, responding to it with a performance is another. That's where Leinster stand now. They have to turn that siege mentality into a fuel source.
While it's nice to hear them get a bit chippy, it's what they do on the UCD training pitches that matters most: how they've trained, talked, recovered, reset. The only energy worth carrying into this final is positive; relying on a faux edge from external criticism to me would not be enough to see them over the line.
Jordie Barrett at Leinster Rugby Squad Training in UCD on Monday. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
I'm reminded of Joe Schmidt and what he drilled into us again and again: 'Control the controllables.' When you focus on yourself, all the positives that make you special as a group, it becomes really powerful as a galvanising force.
There were genuine signs of life from a Leinster perspective last weekend in the win over Glasgow Warriors at the Aviva Stadium. A brilliant line from Dan Sheehan reminded us how dynamic he is with ball in hand. Tommy O'Brien brought energy and sharpness, while Ryan Baird was back to being that annoying, athletic pest every team hates playing against. And Jordie Barrett, slipping down the short side, showed exactly the kind of class that can change games in an instant.
The performance wasn't complete, far from it. But there was shape, there was rhythm. The individual quality is still there. The opportunity now is to pull it all together, save the best performance for last, and answer the clarion call.
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Leinster class shines through in bruising URC semi-final that proved familiarity breeds contempt
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This week shouldn't be about silencing critics or snapping in half the proverbial stick people have been beating them with since the Champions Cup semi-final loss. That sort of external motivation burns out quickly in the heat of a match.
It should be about turning inward, playing for each other, playing for the 16,000 or 17,000 supporters who keep showing up, even when the music's gone quiet. This is about giving them a day worth remembering.
The Bulls are no pushovers, a power-based team with pace who will lick their lips at the idea of neutering the Irish province's set-piece launch pad. The Bulls scrum that tore through the Sharks pack will come for Leinster, every lineout contested, every ruck a dogfight. For the home side parity in these areas is a minimum requirement. Then it comes down to desire, individually and collectively.
Leinster need a bit of that this week. Accept the pressure. Embrace it. And remember that they're good enough, if they believe it, to win this final on their terms, regardless of what the Bulls bring. Forget the external noise. Focus on the job, embrace the task with gusto. And enjoy it.