WHAT A STRANGE feeling it must have been for the Leinster players standing on the pitch at Loftus Versfeld after defeat to the Bulls and hearing The Cranberries’ Zombie blasting out around the stadium in Pretoria. This was the South African version, of course. “In your head, in your head.
.. Rassie, Rassie Rassie!” roared the South African supporters who had just gleefully watched the Bulls players greet the final whistle like they’d won a trophy.
The celebrations were warranted. Leinster are still a huge scalp and were the favourites to win this semi-final and the URC. Jake White came up with a smart plan to beat them and his players executed it superbly to win.
In the aftermath, Leinster lock Joe McCarthy looked shell-shocked as he stood with his hands on his hips, staring vacantly at the ground. He was among the Irish players who were in Stade de France for those special Zombie nights in Paris at last year’s World Cup, pool-stage wins over South Africa and Scotland met with spine-tingling renditions of the Cranberries’ classic. This was supposed to be Irish rugby’s new anthem but the Springboks supporters repurposed it during the World Cup in tribute to their enigmatic leader, Rassie Erasmus.
Unsurprisingly, the man himself loved it. We’re going to be hearing it again soon, probably as early as next week for those of us who tune into the URC final between the Bulls and Glasgow. It has clearly become a key tune for the folk at Loftus Versfeld.
And we’ll pre.
