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Leinster Rugby head coach Leo Cullen is relishing a Champions Cup reunion with Wasps in their ‘pool of death’ opener.
The three-time champions were left heartbroken last season when an extra-time Bryan Habana try saw them exit to RC Toulon at the semi-final stage. Leinster and Wasps clashed at this point last season, with the Irish side coming out on top in Dublin, before a hotly contested draw at the Ricoh Arena.
And Cullen knows the size of the task that awaits Leinster having faced all of their Pool Five rivals last season. He said: “We’re focused on Wasps at the moment, and know what to expect having played them last season. We actually played all three of the other teams in our pool last season in the competition. We had a very narrow win against Wasps in the RDS, drew at the Ricoh Arena, had a very narrow win against Bath and a very narrow loss in extra time to Toulon. There is a lot of familiarities in the pool, and subplots. It’ll come down to fine margins, we have to make sure we get our preparations right.
“Wasps have been pretty good, they had a good win against Bath and ran Leicester pretty close. They have recruited well with people like George Smith and a player we know well – Jimmy Gopperth – we know how well he runs the game. They’ll have plenty of knowledge of us.”
Jonny Sexton is expected to make his European return for Leinster when they clash at the RDS on Sunday. One man Leinster will have to look out for is All Blacks fullback Charlie Piutau, who joined the Coventry side on a year-long deal and starred in his first taste of English rugby in the victory over Gloucester last weekend.
Captain James Haskell is confident they now have the squad to compete for their first Champions Cup triumph since 2007, but says it’s down to the players to deliver.
He said: “It will be a big test, but if you want to win the Champions Cup, you have to go and beat the best and that’s what we want to do as a side. We’ve developed a team with top players across the board and a really settled coaching staff, it’s now just about getting that performance on the field and the players are responsible for that.”
Match Facts
- There have been two wins each and one draw between these sides in the Champions Cup.
- However Leinster hold the edge over Wasps in the pool stages of the competition losing just one of the four pool games contested between the sides (W2, D1).
- Leinster have lost just two of their last 14 pool games in the Champions Cup (W11, D1).
- Wasps have earned just one victory in their last five clashes against Irish clubs (D1, L3), though they had won eight of the 10 matches prior to that.
- Wasps are aiming to win three consecutive away games in the pool stages for the first time since 2007.
La première grosse surprise de cette saison de Champions Cup est venue de la RDS Arena
Wasps threw the cat among the pigeons in the Champions Cup Pool 5 as they ran in three tries to beat three-time winners Leinster Rugby 33-6 at the RDS.
With RC Toulon’s home game against Bath Rugby postponed, Wasps moved to the top of the pool after inflicting the heaviest defeat at home on Leinster. It really was a day for last season’s semi-finalists to forget.
The first quarter was tight with the boots of Ruaridh Jackson and Jonny Sexton providing all the points with two penalties each, but the visitors took a firm grip on proceedings in the next 10 minutes. Elliot Daly kicked a 50 metre penalty and then Christian Wade picked up a try.
Joe Simpson hoisted an up and under on his 10 metre line, Wade chased hard and Dave Kearney made a hash of things in defence. The ball went over the Leinster wing’s head, bounced in the 22 and then moved away from the home player, who also lost his footing.
Up came Wade to find the ball bouncing up into his hands a metre from the line and with nobody in front of him. Jackson added the wide angled conversion and all of a sudden there was a 10 point gap.
It stayed that way until half-time and then eight minutes after the break the Wasps conjured up brilliant attacking move which saw wing Frank Hali break one tackle, offload inside to Simpson and the scrum half race the length of the 22 to score a try which Jackson once again improved.
Leinster failed to make the most of the strong wind behind them in the second half and were unlucky to lose three of their Irish World Cup forwards during the game to injuries, Richardt Strauss, Sean O’Brien and Mike McCarthy.
Two long range Daly penalties from half-way missed the mark, but the second one was knocked-on by Dave Kearney on his line. That error was compounded when a Leinster forward picked up the ball in front of him to concede a penalty in front of the posts that allowed Jackson to add three more points to extend the lead to 26-6 after 68 minutes.
The game ended with the TNO confirming that Heineken Man of the Match Charles Piutau had scored in the right corner after Sailosi Tagicakibau had touched down inches short, but the ball had bounced backwards off its point.
To rub salt into the gaping home wounds, Alex Lozowski landed another touchline conversion to take the winning margin to 27 points.
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