On the Front Line

Mike Ross, Cian Healy and Richard Strauss were not in the game in the first half of the Heineken Final against the Saints, but were central to a breathtaking turnaround in the Milleninum last Saturday. Quite what happened in the Leinster dressing room over the half time oranges will remain in the annals of rugbying history as long as the game is played.
They were free of the crushing pressure of Hartley and co for the first quarter of an hour of the second half, and that may well have been critical. The ethereal Jonny Sexton ghosted through a gap out wide to get the Dubliners swinging, and when the front rows next locked horns, it was Heaslip's turn to play on the front foot, and Hartley's to be popped out. From that point on, the Leinster side was in cruise control, recycling the ball quickly and always looking dangerous in attack. For all Foden's prompting, the Saints faded badly. This will be a difficult pill for Mallinder's charges to swallow, but they have established themselves as a force in European rugby, and no one will relish visits to Franklin's Gardens in next year's Pool stages.