Every Christmas there is usually a few sports DVDs or books that a lot of people will find in their stockings. The recently released DVD “The history of Leinster rugby” will likely fill that void this year.
For a lot of fans Leinster rugby only started in 2009 but this documentary gets started all the way back in 1800’s and takes you up to the present day. It covers the Leinster team throughout the years but also has chapters devoted to the schools and clubs game. What’s good about the DVD is the detailed chapter selection means that if Leinster in the 1800’s isn’t your thing you can jump to the professional era or just jump to whatever generation interests you. Naturally there is a large focus on the Cheika/ Schmidt eras but there is lots of footage of other Leinster teams.
The DVD takes the usual format of showing a few clips then have a player talking about said clip. The players called upon to give evidence range from today’s team to recently retired players like Dennis Hickie and extend all the way back to players from Dennis Hickie father’s era.
Naturally fans will like to relive the recent Heineken Cup victories but some of the best footage is from the Matt Williams era. People have pretty much seen everything Leinster has done in the last few years but one of the gems on the DVD is the 2001 Celtic League final. You know the footage is old when a bleach blonde Gordon D’Arcy is finishing off a move on the wing like Usain Bolt. You also have Eric Miller getting sent off for stamping and also a reminder of the electric pace O’Driscoll had in his early twenties. Reggie Corrigan reaction to Miller’s sending off in the Celtic League Final is one of the more insightful sound bites.
The DVD probably won’t hold a great deal of interest for fans of other provinces unless it’s Munster fans watching a chapter devoted to the 2006 Heineken Cup semi-final.
The documentary raises a key dilemma with modern television: how come games from a little over five years ago look like they were broadcast in the 1970’s? The slightly cloudy picture is closer of the grainy footage of JFK’s assassination than HD TV. I don’t know whether I’ve developed cataracts or if someone has forgotten to dust out Sky’s archive room but there is no way that the quality of broadcast in 2006 was that poor. I refuse to believe it.
If you want to buy someone this DVD for Christmas, click here.
