Leinster are not as invincible as everyone (in Ireland) makes them out to be.
Back-to-back losses over the last two weekends have shown that. And maybe, this could be the start of their season spiralling and another year where they end up with no trophies after being tipped to go deep into the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Champions Cup.
They were clear favourites to claim a fourth consecutive finals berth in the Champions Cup ahead of this past weekend. Yet, they did not make it past the semi-finals.
Yes, they will be in the quarter-finals of the URC – as they still top the log – but the last two losses in both competitions have shown that there is a vulnerability within the team sides can exploit when facing them in make-or-break matches.
They are not bulletproof, no matter how much they are hyped up or the depth of their player pool.
For the second weekend in a row, a team found a way to circumvent their defensive prowess under the expertise of Jacques Nienaber to beat them. They lost to the Scarlets last weekend in the URC, although it was not a full-strength side.
The loss on Saturday against Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup, which knocked them out of contention, only reinforced their susceptibility to losses in play-off games.
It’s especially at this time of the season that Leinster starts losing their way it seems, and their potential opponents will be lapping this up. While they made the final of the European competition last year, eventually losing out to Toulouse in the final, they failed to get past the Bulls in the URC again.
Maybe, just maybe it was Jake White’s Loftus troops who planted the seed amongst other teams that Leinster’s league and pool stage dominance can be thwarted in the one-off games. The Pretoria side beat the Irish powerhouse twice in URC playoff games – once in Dublin and the next time in Pretoria.
So, it’s not unfathomable that it could be done for a fourth season in a row in the URC. Leinster will have the home-ground advantage in the quarters and potential semis as things stand, but after seeing how they were upstaged by the Saints this past weekend, no team in the top eight will head to Dublin just to explore the Irish city.
They will know that although their opponents are fancied way more than them, teams with a much smaller player pool than Leinster have done the unthinkable.
It’s going to be interesting how the Irish side picks themselves up for the rest of the URC after the last two weekends of rugby results. Suddenly, they only have one trophy to play for, when for the last couple of years, they could try for two at least.
Maybe it will give them the chance to zone in on finally winning the URC without having the distraction of the Champions Cup finals on their minds. On the other hand, the losses they racked up over the last two weeks could dent their hopes of some silverware to make up for their league dominance.
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