Great stories don't always come with perfect ending
No triumphant valediction to close Cheika's reign, says John O'Brien
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THEY billed it somewhat pretentiously as the Grand Final and, in truth, the occasion lived up to its name. The purists might argue that Leinster were denied the title they had earned over the course of the season, but the manner in which the Ospreys dismantled them in the first 40 minutes gave the lie to that assessment.
At a ground that has only ever held despair for them, the Welsh side proved themselves worthy champions.
We had assumed the imperatives would be greater for Leinster. They had a proud history at their adopted ground to defend and the emotional context of Michael Cheika and Malcolm O'Kelly, among others, making their valedictory appearances for the province. Not to mention their burning need to finish another season with a tangible reward to show for their efforts. They seemed to have any number of reasons to win.
Ultimately, it was perhaps those very same factors that contributed to their downfall. From the start Leinster played like a team constrained by the demands of the occasion. They seemed anxious and fearful of the threat carried by their opponents, afraid to let their expansive instincts take hold. They were content to defend stoutly inside their own half and launch the odd counter-attack, but there was nothing sustained or incisive about it. It wasn't winning rugby.
The Ospreys, on the other hand, played without fear and never afforded Leinster even the slightest modicum of respect. It has never been a secret that the Welsh side contains one of the best attacking units this side of the rugby world, but all too often it has come apart on the big days when their nerve has failed them. Yesterday their spirit forged them ahead and their nerve held when Leinster threw all they had at them late on.
When Tommy Bowe left Ulster two years ago, there were a few raised eyebrows when the then up-and-coming wing chose the Ospreys as his destination. At the time the Ospreys were viewed as an ambitious but limited side and, even then, there were widespread fears for Bowe's chances of finding his feet in a back division that was already top-heavy with talent. How far the Monaghan wing and his team has come in that time. The Ospreys and Bowe have been a perfect match. Bowe started yesterday's game, as he mostly does, at No 14 but such is the Osprey's style of play, that he was liable to pop up anywhere in the back-line as they repeatedly threatened the Leinster line.
The broad smile on Bowe's face afterwards was telling. He spoke of how much he had enjoyed the occasion and the game. When the Ospreys enjoy their rugby, they are a difficult team to stop. It was no surprise that Bowe was heavily involved in both of their tries. He finished the first after Andrew Bishop had sliced through a static Leinster defence and started the second that ended with the excellent Lee Byrne charging over in the right corner. Leinster had been blitzed. Their line had been breached twice and they had managed precious little go-forward ball at the other end. They weren't out of it yet, but you had to assume a radical plot-change to see them pulling it out of the fire.
Nothing much went their way, though. They clearly missed the steadying leadership of Leo Cullen and their woes were compounded by injuries to Shane Jennings, Kevin McLaughlin and Stephen Keogh. That meant they ended up with an improvised back-row of Jamie Heaslip, second-row Nathan Hines and hooker, Richardt Strauss. Their biggest problems had preceded those setbacks, though. They didn't come close to explaining Leinster's chronic under-performance.
They made a fight of it, at least. Jonny Sexton kicked two penalties that clawed back the deficit and gave them a sniff of an unlikely victory. With more composure they might have obtained it. Isa Nacewa's clumsy high tackle on Byrne when the full-back was isolated in front of his own posts was a telling moment. Shortly afterwards Sexton, unforgivably, failed to dispatch a penalty to touch. Nothing undermined them more than their own shortcomings.
Yet the longer the game went on, the more the Ospreys withdrew into their own half and that gave Leinster the chance to launch a final offensive to steal the game. When Sexton kicked a penalty with 10 minutes to go it made it a one-score game. Six minutes later the outhalf had the chance to make it tighter but pulled his effort and a groan echoed around the crowd.
After that Leinster poured forward in desperation, but the incisive breakthrough they needed continued to elude them. Then at a critical point they lost possession and the Ospreys guarded the ball and counted the clock down to safety, allowing Leinster no more opportunities to steal the game. A young, ambitious side had the title they craved and deserved. And a season had ended without a trophy remaining in Irish shores. In the context of the brilliant year that had come before, it felt empty and hollow.
For coach Michael Cheika and those other departing Leinster stalwarts, there was to be no triumphant valediction. But that's the way sport is sometimes. Great stories don't always come with the perfect ending.
- John OB
Originally published in
