Investec Champions Cup semi-final
- Leinster v Northampton Saints
SATURDAY (5:30pm, Croke Park)
The Croke Park factor has been bigger than the game itself in the build-up. The sight of Jamison Gibson-Park with a size five O’Neills was quite something.
His volleyball-style technique would render him more of a Michael Darragh MacAuley and less Bryan Sheehan. Both All-Ireland winners, mind you.
One of Croker’s groundsmen is ironically a huge Northampton Saints’ fan. Stuart Wilson was presented with a jersey, as the whole ‘worlds colliding’ thing snowballed.
Saints even have a Tommy Freeman. The English version won’t be accepted around Magheracloone as a doppelganger any time soon though.
Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson stated this week his side had been given history lessons about the Bloody Sunday atrocity of 1920 that saw 14 people gunned down by the Black and Tans.
Maybe Freeman was the daydreaming type at school, or the class clown. In any case, there’s been better application of the cliché “all guns blazing”.
Safe to say that video was swiftly deleted. Final nail in the coffin at a funeral kind of vibes.
On to matters at hand, there’s a game to be played.
The lineout battle will be key. Leinster have scored 43 tries from that type of set-piece this season, while the visitors have scored 44.
Having retired from England duty after the World Cup, Courtney Lawes has been exceptional in the club jersey. He will relish the task of going after Ross Molony and Joe McCarthy in the engine room, although selected at 6.
Hugo Keenan and Garry Ringrose both miss out for Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber’s men - with much onus on exciting young centre Jamie Osborne - as Leinster look to implement Nienaber’s famous blitz defence on an exciting Saints’ back division.
Winger George Hendy is a name to look out for there, but several threats could punch holes if Leinster’s defence disconnects. Freeman is among the dangers, as are fellow England internationals Fraser Dingwall and George Furbank.
Given the absence of Ringrose, Northampton’s counter-attacking approach will be fascinating.
Furbank was a key part of England’s win over Ireland in that department, covering acres of ground to gather loose ball in order to free up George Ford to make the decisions on the break. England made hay.
Guess who was also missing that day? Ringrose.
His out-half this evening will be the immensely talented Fin Smith, another England international, and a large reason behind the derailment of Munster’s European campaign.
For Jimmy O’Brien, the 23 jersey will bring memories of Ireland’s heart-wrenching World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of New Zealand.
He was the last man to be used by Andy Farrell at that tournament, and his luck hardly improved as injury saw him miss out on a Six Nations’ title, one which he would have played a key role in given the prior absence of Mack Hansen.
Throw in two European victories over La Rochelle, and O’Brien is surely beyond grateful to be back in the thick of it.
And in the thick of it he’ll be. A full house at the home of the GAA, where the boys in blue will be heavy favourites to get the job done. How ironic.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.