By venting their hatred against Billy Vunipola, Munster have shown Leinster how not to beat Saracens
Vunipola's teammate Jackson Wray revealed how another week of controversy at Saracens triggered the siege mentality that brings the very best out of a group of players who have gone through the mill with each other
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Your support makes all the difference.If Leinster are to learn anything from Munster’s Heineken Champions Cup semi-final humbling by Saracens, it is to boo Billy Vunipola at their peril.
The reigning English champions have become the very best in the business at utilising a siege mentality, particularly when their problems are their own doing. But never has that been so prominent as over the last seven days, with a week that started with club warning one of its star players about his social media conduct and ending with the team embracing the reaction that came with that to reach a third Champions Cup final in four seasons.
But that is how Saracens function, for this is largely the same side that has been through the mill together. Eight of the matchday squad that dispatched Munster 32-16 on Saturday were part of the side that started this European journey seven years ago in the quarter-final defeat by Clermont Auvergne, with two more joining them for the revenge mission against the French side in 2014: the Vunipola brothers.
So it is fitting that Billy Vunipola was the reason behind last week’s controversy, with the rugby community largely voicing its disapproval of his support for Israel Folau’s anti-gay comments. The 26-year-old has faced a furious backlash to his Instagram post that boiled over inside the Ricoh Arena, with one Munster fan taking the fury into his own hands by invading the pitch to confront Vunipola seconds after the match had finished to give him the middle finger. But that was just one of the many protests against Vunipola, which ranged from the passive displaying of rainbow flags to the more passionate booing of the No 8 and, unfortunately, the abusive and foul-mouthed language spewed out by some that did nothing to educate anyone.
What it did do though was trigger the Saracens siege mentality. One man who had embarked on the European journey alongside Vunipola is Jackson Wray, who had a ringside seat in the back-row next to the England international to witness his man-of-the-match display. And whether you agree with Vunipola’s beliefs or not, it is impossible to argue that he was one of the key reasons for putting Munster to the sword.
"It was never in doubt for me,” said Wray. “Yes, he has been in the media a lot and it has hit him hard, (but) It just makes us tighter. We are there for him, he is a teammate, we are tight for him and anything that happens outside makes us tighter in the middle. (On Sunday) I thought we showed that, and I thought he showed that, he had a great game. Yes he got booed and everything with it but that was to be expected. We knew we'd be outnumbered, fans wise, so there was nothing new there. Everything like that, we try and use to our energy within.
"I am not surprised. We are there for him, if he needs us, and he knows that. We are a tight group, everything we have done over the years has made us tight.”
From his own words, Vunipola knows this, and a glance at his teammates only goes to reinforce that. The entire team rallied around him to celebrate his second-half try that killed off Munster’s challenge, and the eye-rolls and smiles that met Vunipola-related questions from the media in the post-match press conference showed that the players have moved on.
“I don’t want to say too much about that side of it,” added his director of rugby Mark McCall, “but I can remember losing semi-finals in 2013 and 2015 — this group has been through quite a lot together and it all hasn’t been good, some of it has been difficult and some of it has been painful.
“We lost those two finals consecutively in 2014 and the second one felt cruel at the time, but the truth is that we just weren’t good enough at that point.
“So, they are tight, they are really tight. And I suppose the mark of a tight group is that you support your teammates through the good times and the bad times and through the difficult times, that is what I have witnessed this week.
“We all don’t get things right all the time and people make mistakes all of the time and we don’t discard them all of a sudden because of that, we stick by the people that we have grown with over a very long period of time and I think that’s the hallmark of a good team.”
Leinster supporters are likely to swamp the Saracens contingent in Newcastle next month for the Champions Cup final, when the furore surrounding Vunipola’s actions is likely to have died down somewhat.
Hopefully that will make way for what everyone has been desperate to see: the two European juggernauts meeting in the continents showcase match. Combined winners of the last three Champions Cup titles, Leinster will be out to to retain their title against a Saracens side determined to reclaim it, and on top of the Vunipola row there is also the chance for revenge following last year’s quarter-final clash that saw the Irish side prevail. It is a final that contains all the ingredients for a true classic.
Yet McCall believes that the Saracens side that runs out at St James’ Park will be even better than the one that last lifted the Champions Cup. “You would like to think that in two years, you have got a little bit better,” McCall said. “I would be very disappointed in us as coaches if we hadn’t, but everyone else does too, of course. Individually, our players are better than they were and I think collectively, you saw that potentially we are (better).
Today was a big, big game for us and we really performed well when we needed to.”
Wray agrees. “There is that experience, there is also that tightness we have had over the years. We have come through a lot, on and off the field. Yes we have won, but we have also as the same group – we lost the final to Toulon – we have been there either side of it. We know what it takes to win. For us, we have got ourselves to another final, it is about being in the right place for that now. We will enjoy this, as it is a great game to win, so we'll enjoy it for sure. Then it is back up here next week for Wasps and another big step for us."
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