Leinster signed off the United Rugby Championship regular season in emphatic style on Saturday, dismantling the Ospreys 68-14 to lock in second place on the ladder, a home quarter-final and — perhaps most importantly — a confidence injection ahead of next weekend's Champions Cup final against Bordeaux. Kick On Rugby's analyst called the timing "perfect" and immediately pencilled in a 23-man Bordeaux blueprint that backs Leinster to "shock the club rugby world."
The centrepiece of an eleven-try evening was a hat-trick from lock Joe McCarthy, including a touchline finish the analyst said any winger would have been proud of.
"Big Joe McCarthy — what, a hat-trick?" the host said. "His second try down the touchline, wingers would be proud. Jordan Larmour would be proud. He was ball in one hand, stepping, goosing past players, handing them off, hugging the touchline, went down and he did look like a winger. He looked like he's done that before."
The result also brought back Jordan Larmour for a comeback double and James Lowe, who scored on his return, while Josh van der Flier finished off a slick Jack Conan link that the analyst flagged as a serious set-piece tell heading into the final.
For Kick On Rugby, the most encouraging element was not the scoreline against an Ospreys side with little left to play for, but the way Leinster's season-long peaks and troughs finally aligned in a single performance.
"It's been up and down with regards to a complete performance from Leinster this season — where sometimes they'll be really good in the attack but then really struggle defensively. Then other times defence might have been good but then attack wasn't working. Nothing was in sync, nothing was flowing… But it felt like everything come together in this game. And the timing of it is perfect."
The analyst was equally complimentary of Leo Cullen, whose late-season rotation policy he said had set Leinster up with a fully fit, in-form squad heading into the European decider — and a "good headache" of a selection puzzle.
The pundit's predicted 23 for Bordeaux: Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong in the front row, with Joe McCarthy and James Ryan in the second row. Jack Conan, van der Flier and Caelan Doris in a familiar back row. Jamison Gibson-Park and — controversially — Harry Byrne at half-back, with Sam Prendergast left out of the 23 entirely.
In the centres he went with Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose despite reservations about Henshaw's form: "Henshaw, like, yeah, he's probably not going to win you the game, but he's going to get through his work, he's going to give it 110 percent." The back three was Rieko Ioane, Tommy O'Brien and Hugo Keenan, with James Lowe controversially benched as a finishing option alongside Ciaran Frawley, Caelan Lomani, Tom Clarkson, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan and Cormac McGrath.
The pundit cautioned the bench needed serious tighthead cover against the likes of Ben Tameifuna, but ended with a bullish tip for the final.
"If there was ever a team right now that can shock the club rugby world against Bordeaux, it's Leinster right now. If there was a club team to do that right now, it's this Leinster team."
For now, Leinster sit second in the URC table, with a home quarter-final on the way and what Kick On Rugby described as a side "humming" into the biggest week of its season.
