By Chris Collyer
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Leinster‘s loss on Saturday was, it’s fair to say, not foreseen by the majority of fans and players outside of Northampton.
With the International’s advantage firmly with Leinster, along with the home advantage, bookies and fans worldwide expected a dominant performance and victory for Leo Cullen’s men.
The Saints, however, did not read the script.
Perhaps the worst thing about this semi-final was that the narrative has become all about “Leinster bottling it” as opposed to “Northampton we’re outstanding.”
I’ve followed Leinster for a long time and in that time I’ve come to see that the blue juggernaut is a fierce, coordinated machine overflowing with talent that boasts an overall consistency of victories throughout the leagues.
Favourites Tag
You can understand why they regularly carry the “Favourites” tag.
With that tag and exhausting consistency must come an enormous amount of pressure, unease and good old-fashioned human fear. Human.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few of the lads along with Leo Cullen himself and still remember being aghast at just standing in front of your sporting icons for the first time.
Even more aghast at the humanity of professional rugby players you’ve only ever seen on screen. Friendly, funny and humbled that we fans want to shake hands with them.
Watching them on Saturday I remember thinking, I could never do what they’re doing now and manage that kind of pressure.
These are men I’ve leaned on a rail with and discussed the weather with, how can they box up that kind of pressure?
Only through the gameplay and decision making I saw that even your sports icons are still human and have bad days just like the rest of us.
Of course the loss stung. Out of respect for the two teams it couldn’t not however the disappointment we fans and media felt would be nothing compared to the boys who put their bodies on the line week in and week out for our entertainment, before going on to process the result in very different ways.
Unfathomable when you think about it.
Dream Day
Northampton Saints were the neutrals dream on Saturday and reminded us why this is a game to take notice of and on a good day anyone can beat anyone.
This competition itself has recently come under scrutiny for various reasons, and in the future, I’d be happy to remind anyone who thinks it’s not worth being a part of to go back and watch this game again.
I have no doubt Leinster will come firing back. Maybe with only the URC to focus on they’ll find a element to player management and league balance that may just be the key to that European glory they so badly seek.
In the meantime? Reset and restart From The Ground Up.
Everyone loves an underdog win and if it’s victories like this that get more people watching rugby union then that can only be a good thing for the game overall.
A game not played by robots but by human beings.
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