The Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoffs begin for Leinster and Glasgow Warriors when the two teams meet at the RDS Arena in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
ROAD TO THE PLAYOFFS: LEINSTER (1ST)
SEASON SNAPSHOT
The Irish giants Leinster set the standard in the URC. Leinster, from the outset, made a statement that they would be the team to beat in the league’s inaugural season.
They also had to manage topping the URC table and making the final of the Champions Cup in one of the toughest balancing acts over the course of 27 matches, 18 of which were in the URC.
It attested to the quality of the squad and the depth of this quality that Leinster could make 15 changes to their run-on side and still beat rivals Munster in the final round of the regular URC league season.
Leinster, who were denied Champions Cup glory by French Top 14 outfit La Rochelle, have all their players available leading into the playoffs, and it is the depth of the squad that gives Leinster such an advantage over the rest of the playoff contenders.
Leinster managed to navigate their way to being crowned Ireland’s Shield winners and the league’s first place without their most prominent current Test internationals. For example, veteran Ireland flyhalf Johnny Sexton played just three out of a possible 18 matches and the 27 year-old Ross Byrne was at flyhalf in 14 of the 18 matches.
Leinster, who did the double over Munster and Connacht, surprisingly lost both Irish derbies to Ulster, but were largely dominant at home and on the road up north. They took a very young team to South Africa for two matches and got a losing bonus point against the Cell C Sharks and DHL Stormers, respectively.
The Irish side won big praise in South Africa for being as competitive, given they had left 10 of their most influential players in Dublin to prepare for the Champions Cup playoffs.
They finished the league season on a high, beating Munster at home 35-25.
STAR PERFORMER
Flyhalf Ross Byrne, at 95kg and 1.93m, can’t be missed and his performances throughout the season were as big as his stature.
Byrne started 11 of 14 matches in the URC, scored two tries and kicked 11 penalties and 33 conversions for a league total of 109 points. He averaged 63 minutes a match in a league season that totaled 886 mins.
Byrne scored 14 points in the away win over Munster and his league high was 19 points in Leinster’s 61-17 away win over Italy’s Benetton.
DECISIVE WIN
Leinster hammered many a team in the season, beating Benetton 61-17, Zebre 43-7, Connacht 47-19, the Scarlets 50-13 and the Vodacom Bulls 31-3 in the league opener. The win over the South Africans was particularly telling and it made a statement to the SA franchises.
But the most decisive win, given this weekend’s playoff matches, was the away win over Glasgow Warriors mid-season. Leinster triumphed 31-15 and it is why the bookmakers have them as overwhelming favourites to beat Glasgow again.
ROAD TO THE PLAYOFFS: GLASGOW WARRIORS (8TH)
SEASON SNAPSHOT
The Scots were a mixed bag and there were times they threatened to be a serious top-four contender, only to finish the season scrapping for a top-eight position.
Glasgow had a difficult end to the season, with successive defeats in SA by the Bulls and Stormers hammer blows to their ambition of a top-four finish.
There was a memorable 13-11 home win over Munster and a very impressive 42-20 win away at Connacht, but they are a team that enters the playoffs on a low after losing their past four matches in all competitions, including a defeat by neighbours Edinburgh in the final round of the URC.
The Warriors are not to be underestimated and the quality of the squad is the equal of most teams in Europe and South Africa. Glasgow Warriors, in the Champions Cup, lost 20-13 to La Rochelle in France and lost 38-30 at home to La Rochelle, who would finish the season as the Champions Cup winners.
The Scots are more than capable of shocking any team in the league, but it would take a monumental effort to upstage the league’s best team, Leinster.
STAR PERFORMER
It would be difficult to pick one over the other, so this is a case of star performers in No 8 Jack Dempsey and flank Rory Darge. Dempsey, capped 14 times for the Wallabies, was consistently strong in making 204 carries, the third most in the league, beat 34 defenders and gained 717 metres on attack, while Scottish international Darge, affectionately dubbed ‘Darge the Barge’ for his ability over the ball, won 14 turnovers, the seventh best in the league.
DECISIVE WIN
Every one of the 10 league wins would be viewed as decisive for the Warriors because they needed all 10 to make it into the final eight.
But, in picking just one, it has to be the home 38-19 bonus-point win over the Ospreys in January. It was the match that proved the difference between making the playoffs or finishing ninth. The Ospreys finished the season with 10 wins, six bonus points and 46 league points. The Warriors also got 10 wins, but they managed 10 bonus points and the all important scalp of the Ospreys.
NEXT:
Quarter-final vs Leinster, RDS Arena, Dublin (4 June)
