Irish rugby’s remarkable year shows absolutely no sign of ending. By no stretch of the imagination was this a classic final but it is impossible to deny the scale of Leinster’s achievement in becoming only the second team in history to win four European Cups. Given Ireland’s Six Nations grand slam and potentially a Pro14 title as well, the 2017-18 season has been a rhapsody in green and blue.
While the margins in Bilbao were distinctly slim, the soon-to-retire Isa Nacewa slotting the winning penalty with less than two minutes remaining, there can be no disputing Leinster’s consistency.
Despite being drawn in a horribly tough pool they have emerged with a 100% record from their nine matches, emulating the feat previously achieved only by Saracens two years ago. Significantly, they also possess enough youthful talent to continue winning for the foreseeable future.
Leinster 15-12 Racing 92: European Champions Cup final player ratings
Even if Rémi Talès’s last-gasp drop-goal attempt had not been deflected wide, Leinster would have fancied outlasting opponents who were already down to their third-choice fly-half within three minutes of the kick-off. The great Dan Carter pulled out late with a tweaked hamstring, denying the former All Black a fairytale finish to a wonderfully successful career, and the South African Pat Lambie soon followed, limping from the fray having been collared high by Johnny Sexton. With the influential Maxime Machenaud and Dimitri Szarzewski sitting injured in the stands, Racing did well to come as close to glory as they did.
The total absence of tries will not remotely bother Leinster’s director of rugby, Leo Cullen – the first man to win the tournament as both a player and a coach – and Stuart Lancaster, who will savour this outcome as much as any Irishman. England’s former head coach has had his share of tough times but his decision to reboot his career in Dublin has been richly rewarded.
As Cullen conceded afterwards, however, it “wasn’t pretty” from the outset. Teddy Iribaren is miles down the French scrum-half rankings but the unsung 27-year-old possesses the sweetest of left boots and came close to wrenching the title away from Nacewa’s side.
From the opening exchanges, when a high tackle wide out on the left by Garry Ringrose cost three points, Leinster knew they were in a battle for the title.
Racing were also harassing their opponents on the gain-line and at the breakdown. A collapsed maul gave Iribaren, who has Basque heritage, the chance to restore Racing’s lead and only when Leinster opted for more of an aerial game did the French side start to look more uncertain. Leinster were also guilty of making some odd decisions. Awarded a penalty barely 15 metres out, Sexton opted not to kick for goal or the corner, instead taking a quick tap and giving the ball to Dan Leavy, who was instantly turned over. It was an uncharacteristic piece of slack game management.
The final was not an easy match, either, for the referee, Wayne Barnes, forced to adjudicate on any number of hairline infractions in a claustrophobic first 40 minutes. If Nakarawa was slightly fortunate not to receive a yellow card for sticking out an involuntary hand and blocking a promising Leinster attack, it merely underlined just how narrow the margins were and the ambiguity of the law. A deliberate, cynical slap down of a potential scoring pass is clearly deserving of 10 minutes in the bin but players and supporters are now appealing for pretty much anything.
The contest needed something more uplifting to captivate the neutral, royally entertained the previous evening by Cardiff Blues’ last-gasp victory over Gloucester in the Challenge Cup final.
It did not materialise in the third quarter as both sides were sucked into an increasingly error-strewn, staccato dogfight. Jordi Murphy was penalised for not rolling away, giving Iribaren another straightforward three points, and Sexton made a complete hash of a long-range penalty attempt which, in golfing terms, barely made the fairway.
The fly-half made amends six minutes later to level the scores again, only to watch yet another penalty attempt drift just wide. A high tackle by Leavy on Henry Chavancy gave Racing another chance but this time Teddy proved less steady. The possibility of extra time began to loom but Nacewa’s two late penalties, after Sexton slipped and tweaked his groin, ultimately spared his team-mates that brutal fate. “It was tough – torturous in many ways – to watch that last 20 minutes,” said Cullen. “Maybe that makes it that bit more special, to have to go through that pain.”
Whether it inspires millions of Spanish kids to rip down their Real Madrid and Barcelona posters and stick up pictures of Tagdh Furlong instead is doubtful but, as a gospel-spreading exercise, this weekend has been a definite success. Next year the finals weekend will be held in Newcastle, where some Leinster supporters have apparently already booked hotel rooms. It may well prove a very shrewd investment.