Champions Cup Final - Leinster v Racing

[D4surfer]

I rewatched the game yesterday evening and it was very stop start. We only looked like scoring a try once, around 15 minutes in when Isa got away and was tackled 6/7m out and then Leavy went again. Ultimately Racing gave up a penalty which we scored, but that was the only time either team looked like crossing the whitewash. I thought Wayne Barnes had improved as a referee this season but some of the decisions on Saturday (on both sides, not just against us) were baffling to say the least. The non yellow cards being particularly strange.

The fussy refereeing and poor conditions didn't make for a great spectacle but it was a privilege to be there and witness it. Really enjoyed the trip but would have liked to have had more time to soak up the atmosphere. Left the house at 5.30am, our flight was due to leave Dublin at 9, eventually took off at 11.40 and we got off the bus in Bilbao at 4pm. Got into bed on Sunday morning at 3.45 so was absolutely shattered yesterday.

EDIT: As an aside, the attendance was announced as 52,000 but there definitely wasn't that many at the game. Seemed to be loads of empty seats. There were at least 10 blocks of the corporate level with nobody in them, and the first 8 or 10 rows in Block 110 were empty also.

You must be one of a very small number who will rewatch that game. I am not sure it will sell too many DVD's.

The conditions and the ref did not help but I think Racing did a good analyses job and brought a game plan to neutralise us.

The ref was not good for either side or the spectators. The yellow that wasn't is baffling. I am not sure what else he had to do to earn a yellow.

JP Doyle immediately called in "penalty only" from the sideline and that convinced Barnes. He could have gone to the TMO who he didn't use once.

[CiaranIrl]

Are people seriously still whining on about the Referee two days after we won the final? Jesus wept. He was as bad to both sides, so suck it up. Us pulling down a maul cynically was just as deserving of a yellow card as the deliberate knock on. If you can't see that after we won the final, there's no hope for you.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

The way Barnes spoke french to the french players disgusted me.

It didn't disgust me. You can't expect French people to know English and there would have been a lot of French viewers who needed to hear French to understand what was happening. Plus Barnes isn't actually French so couldn't be accused of any bias for it...which obviously all means it's a completely different situation to the one you're getting at.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Are people seriously still whining on about the Referee two days after we won the final? Jesus wept. He was as bad to both sides, so suck it up. Us pulling down a maul cynically was just as deserving of a yellow card as the deliberate knock on. If you can't see that after we won the final, there's no hope for you.

I didn't think we were robbed or anything (bar the Nakarawa incident) but I did think they ruined the game as a spectacle and I'm still not okay with that.

[D4surfer]

Are people seriously still whining on about the Referee two days after we won the final? Jesus wept. He was as bad to both sides, so suck it up. Us pulling down a maul cynically was just as deserving of a yellow card as the deliberate knock on. If you can't see that after we won the final, there's no hope for you.

I didn't think we were robbed or anything (bar the Nakarawa incident) but I did think they ruined the game as a spectacle and I'm still not okay with that.

+1

[CiaranIrl]

Are people seriously still whining on about the Referee two days after we won the final? Jesus wept. He was as bad to both sides, so suck it up. Us pulling down a maul cynically was just as deserving of a yellow card as the deliberate knock on. If you can't see that after we won the final, there's no hope for you.

I didn't think we were robbed or anything (bar the Nakarawa incident) but I did think they ruined the game as a spectacle and I'm still not okay with that.

I think they definitely helped make a cr@p game of it, but the weather and the way Racing set out to play was a bit part of it too. But in any case, I'm talking about the bias comments - making out that he was only bad on one side.

[D4surfer]

Are people seriously still whining on about the Referee two days after we won the final? Jesus wept. He was as bad to both sides, so suck it up. Us pulling down a maul cynically was just as deserving of a yellow card as the deliberate knock on. If you can't see that after we won the final, there's no hope for you.

I didn't think we were robbed or anything (bar the Nakarawa incident) but I did think they ruined the game as a spectacle and I'm still not okay with that.

I think they definitely helped make a cr@p game of it, but the weather and the way Racing set out to play was a bit part of it too. But in any case, I'm talking about the bias comments - making out that he was only bad on one side.

I don't think Barnes was biased, just cr@p. It was the Dubliner, JP Doyle who called the lineout penalty for interfering with Donnacha Ryan and also "no yellow" against Nakawara. Two bad calls maybe trying too hard to be unbiased.

Anyway, criticising officials afterwards is an integral part of the game. Take that away and what do we have left

[olaf the fat]

Are people seriously still whining on about the Referee two days after we won the final? Jesus wept. He was as bad to both sides, so suck it up. Us pulling down a maul cynically was just as deserving of a yellow card as the deliberate knock on. If you can't see that after we won the final, there's no hope for you.

I didn't think we were robbed or anything (bar the Nakarawa incident) but I did think they ruined the game as a spectacle and I'm still not okay with that.

I think they definitely helped make a cr@p game of it, but the weather and the way Racing set out to play was a bit part of it too. But in any case, I'm talking about the bias comments - making out that he was only bad on one side.

In fairness to the WB, the weather made for difficult conditions & Racing were set up to cause problems - nightmare scenario for refs, then throw in our mistakes and silly penalties. Hard enough to ref a major final without so many moving parts trying to prevent it from being a "good" game.

We can be a bit peeved at how this effected our game. Could he have do more? probably yes, but Racing were very, very good at playing on the edge, slowing down disrupting etc - (All blackesque even )

[Ruckedtobits]

I would pay the price of my EPRC ticket to see the Cullen / Lancaster analysis given yesterday to the Squad. Having seen the game and subsequently reviewed it, I am still at a loss to decide how much was inflicted on us - by the two Laurens and Barnes - and how much we inflicted on ourselves. In general, we havent needed much luck in European Finals, our bad luck has arrived in Semi-finals. But, I have some sense that Teddy T got us out of jail on Saturday, which is poetic justice for the grief he put us through in Paris, all those months ago.

[the spoofer]

Looking back at the game, Barnes was poor but not as awful as I thought. He needed to change the approach such as calling use it once the ball became available. The high tackles were all correct calls even the one for Rob on a ducking 5' 5'' Andreu but the call where Donnacha Ryan got injured was wrong. He jumped across the line and his men dropped him. There was no replay of the hit on McGrath but it looked bad from the only angle that was shown.

The Nakarawa call was just bizarre but wasn't helped by Doyle.

Isa mixed the good with the awful kicking two directly out. They could have been game changers. Luke McGrath did well for a lad just back from a long lay off but JGP did a fine job when he came in.

The game was so stop start that we didn't get a chance to test their fitness.

[enby]

http://www.the42.ie/analysis-leinster-l ... 8-May2018/

Murray Kinsella agrees that Teddy T's brainfart was crucial. Some great analysis as usual

[Oldschool]

I would pay the price of my EPRC ticket to see the Cullen / Lancaster analysis given yesterday to the Squad. Having seen the game and subsequently reviewed it, I am still at a loss to decide how much was inflicted on us - by the two Laurens and Barnes - and how much we inflicted on ourselves. In general, we havent needed much luck in European Finals, our bad luck has arrived in Semi-finals. But, I have some sense that Teddy T got us out of jail on Saturday, which is poetic justice for the grief he put us through in Paris, all those months ago.

Decision making would be top of the list.
Very hard to criticise anything else because Racing proved to be very worthy opponents.

[blockhead]

Lovely to see ISA's dad on the pitch with him afterwards. Apparently he couldn't watch the last 5 mins and hid in the toilet until it was over. I hear ya pops.

[curates_egg]

Sexton's explanation for the tap penalty:
https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/sta ... 1813946371
He thought Racing were not back 10, so was looking to get a better penalty position I guess.
A plausible explanation for what looked like a dreadful decision.
Doesn't' explain taking on 55 metre kicks.

[MarkyDeSad]

Haven't been on here since the game, just had a look at the video clips, brilliant stuff, all emotional again!

Thanks to all involved, a magnificent day

[Scott]

Wayne Barnes, JP Doyle, your boys took a hell of a beating!

[Donny B.]

EDIT: As an aside, the attendance was announced as 52,000 but there definitely wasn't that many at the game. Seemed to be loads of empty seats. There were at least 10 blocks of the corporate level with nobody in them, and the first 8 or 10 rows in Block 110 were empty also.

There was a load of seats empty around the halfway line because Racing didn't use them and the organisers decided to give them to the sponsors instead of selling them. Some nice gentleman I didn't know gave me six of these tickets so me and five of my mates got an upgrade from our shitty seats behind the goal to prime seats on halfway. Although we did have to put with with event junkies who were just there for the free booze which meant we have vomiting incidents behind and in front of us in the course of the match.

[domhnallj]

Lovell rugby have a great offer on a champions cup jersey at the moment

https://www.lovell-rugby.co.uk/Rugby-Sh ... Shirt-Blue

[ronk]

Sexton's explanation for the tap penalty:
https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/sta ... 1813946371
He thought Racing were not back 10, so was looking to get a better penalty position I guess.
A plausible explanation for what looked like a dreadful decision.
Doesn't' explain taking on 55 metre kicks.

I don’t ever recall seeing a ref call that. If the ref thinks you’re not back 10 he tells you.

They should never let a quick penalty go in that circumstance, they make you retreat if the team wants the space. Sexton is competitive but that was hot blooded.

[Xanthippe]

Lovell rugby have a great offer on a champions cup jersey at the moment

https://www.lovell-rugby.co.uk/Rugby-Sh ... Shirt-Blue

If they'd had the sense to put the 4th star on it they might have got some takers