Leinster v La Rochelle Heineken Cup Final Sat 28th May 4.45 Marseille

[hugonaut]

Possibly yet we looked like champions elect until 4:45 yesterday and then we looked a shadow of the side we were 2 weeks previous. Also, has the marketing/pr/twitter guru gone on strike??? Nothing has been posted since the tweet about josh getting poty. If it's been deliberately left alone the it's a bit of a poor show not to have a bit of feedback from someone from hq or even to acknowledge the superb support the lads had from all those that travelled. If we had won it would have been full of interviews and photos. Win or lose it shouldnt matter. Sorry if this comes across as sounding petty. It's certainly not meant to.

I think the EPCR staff are on the same connection: 25 hours since KO and still no performance data from the biggest game of the season [link to nothing at all: https://www.epcrugby.com/report/retiere ... statistics ].

Presume that the Brexit boys are trying to convert the internet to hogsheads and penny farthings.

[riocard911]

One thing you'll hear RO'G talking about more than any other is the mental side of the game. His lads - helped, of course, by playing in their home country with the majority of the 60,000 fans in the Velodrome up for La Rochelle - got that aspect right. They played their game and stuck at it, while we went into our shells and made uncharacteristic mistakes e.g. there was one phase BO'D pointed out during the match on the replay, where nearly every Leinster pass was at the receiving player's shoulder and not chest-height out in front of him to run into. Maybe Ireland and Leinster need a mental skills coach for the high pressure games e.g. RWC quarter-finals, Heino knock-out away matches etc.

I'm not too tough on that. La Rochelle had a lot of psychological cards in their favour for this game. They beat us last year, they were on home soil with massive support in the stadium and they were underdogs.

Those are all advantages when it comes to a one-off game. I've said it before, playing in France against a good French team makes it a hell of a lot tougher to play your best and to get a win. We've all seen plenty of examples of it.

Home advantage is a huge deal – look at Munster taking then-European champions Toulouse to penalties in the quarter-final. Munster are a decent team but no more than that, and they were able to hold a champion team full of internationals to ransom.

We were beaten on the last play of the game by a serious team. It's a huge sickener of course, but I'd rather get to the final than be watching from the couch. We've got a chance now to bounce back and knock out a whole bunch of teams in a row in our own patch and in front of our own fans. So let's go and ruin some seasons!

100%! Don't want to seem like I'm being too hard on the lads, as they are the ones I feel for more than myself. That defensive shift they put in the last 10 mins was magnificent. My heart goes out to each and every one of them. The question remains however, how do Leinster prepare for a such a huge pressure fixture away, when the rest of the season one they're to all extents and purposes blowing all and sundry away and rarely experiencing having to man the lifeboats i.e. dig out a win in the final quarter. Still think sending the front-liners down to Safferland to try and get a win in the regular URC season down there mightn'd be the worst possible prep.

[ronk]

We won't be allowed schedule our tour for the same window.

It'll be earlier and high/top on the SA agenda for the fixtures meeting.

[curates_egg]

Its a hell of a carrott to nibble at to know that we would have a home final next year !!! A full aviva with 90 per cent home fans would be like having a 7 point head start. Can't shake the feeling that this was supposed to be our year thou.

We were lucky with injuries but not with the draw or with the bounce of the ball.

Going back is within us if we continue to build.

It’s not just the luck with injuries in general though, it was the luck with Sexton in particular. Sexton was playing very well and had the team really humming until yesterday. We are unlikely to get that level from him next season, and that will hugely impact our big game performances.

The more I think about it, the worse this loss feels. We may not get another chance like this for years.

[curates_egg]

Ruddock made 14 tackles in 13 minutes. What an effort.

The large minority who thought he should be starting these knock out games won’t have had their minds changed by Conan and Doris yesterday. Both of them did good things but they were both outplayed.
As others have mentioned, Aldritt was on another planet.

[blaker]

Conan Doris were the right selection to try to play our game. The way the game panned out Ruddock would have been better than both

[Ruckedtobits]

One thing you'll hear RO'G talking about more than any other is the mental side of the game. His lads - helped, of course, by playing in their home country with the majority of the 60,000 fans in the Velodrome up for La Rochelle - got that aspect right. They played their game and stuck at it, while we went into our shells and made uncharacteristic mistakes e.g. there was one phase BO'D pointed out during the match on the replay, where nearly every Leinster pass was at the receiving player's shoulder and not chest-height out in front of him to run into. Maybe Ireland and Leinster need a mental skills coach for the high pressure games e.g. RWC quarter-finals, Heino knock-out away matches etc.

I'm not too tough on that. La Rochelle had a lot of psychological cards in their favour for this game. They beat us last year, they were on home soil with massive support in the stadium and they were underdogs.

Those are all advantages when it comes to a one-off game. I've said it before, playing in France against a good French team makes it a hell of a lot tougher to play your best and to get a win. We've all seen plenty of examples of it.

Home advantage is a huge deal – look at Munster taking then-European champions Toulouse to penalties in the quarter-final. Munster are a decent team but no more than that, and they were able to hold a champion team full of internationals to ransom.

We were beaten on the last play of the game by a serious team. It's a huge sickener of course, but I'd rather get to the final than be watching from the couch. We've got a chance now to bounce back and knock out a whole bunch of teams in a row in our own patch and in front of our own fans. So let's go and ruin some seasons!

100%! Don't want to seem like I'm being too hard on the lads, as they are the ones I feel for more than myself. That defensive shift they put in the last 10 mins was magnificent. My heart goes out to each and every one of them. The question remains however, how do Leinster prepare for a such a huge pressure fixture away, when the rest of the season one they're to all extents and purposes blowing all and sundry away and rarely experiencing having to man the lifeboats i.e. dig out a win in the final quarter. Still think sending the front-liners down to Safferland to try and get a win in the regular URC season down there mightn'd be the worst possible prep.

Maybe it's partially because I've now spent more time on Touchlines and in training sessions than I did as a player, but my heart, and and admiration goes out to Leo, Stuart, Felipe, McBride, Leamy et al. How Leo can go out and contribute to a presser after such a loss; how Stuart, Felipe, etc can sit down this morning to start the prep for next weekend against Glasgow; how Physios, Docs, S&C guys cab start to re-assess injuries, fitness, and general damage in the Squad, all after the horror low of last night. That's the real persistence and dedication to the cause.

Last night takes a toll. But you walk the path because that's what's important to you and you believe that your contribution still matter. Yes, losing teaches lessons but it also erodes your spirit and resilience.

I hope somebody is taking care of all those people, emotionally but also physically.

Thanks to you all for the effort and dedication.

[ronk]

Ruddock made 14 tackles in 13 minutes. What an effort.

The large minority who thought he should be starting these knock out games won’t have had their minds changed by Conan and Doris yesterday. Both of them did good things but they were both outplayed.
As others have mentioned, Aldritt was on another planet.

Feasible with so many pick and goes. Advantage of fresh legs. I think we needed McCarthy too, especially with only a 5-3 split.

[Dexter]

Just back today, exhausted, disappointed, but proud of our team and supporters. For us, we had a brilliant few days in Marseille and appreciate that we were lucky and priveleged to be there. The atmosphere at the game was incredible, a proper home game for LaR. Let nobody doubt that. It was up there with any big away game in France that Leinster have played and always struggled to win in. The Sea of Blue welcome for the team was sabotaged by the incompetence of the police/organisers in not closing off the road for a short time. The coach was diverted to another route, due to traffic, so they never got to see or drive through the supporters similar to previous finals and big days.
LaR the better team on the day but they will find that not everything goes your way the more they play in the serious end of this tournament, like all successful Euro champions have found, not just Leinster.
I really feel for the players, coaches, staff etc. who were desperate to atone (as they saw it) for the last few Euro seasons and give a winning send off to some Leinster Legends.
Thanks for all the great days lads!

[Blueberry]

Just back today, exhausted, disappointed, but proud of our team and supporters. For us, we had a brilliant few days in Marseille and appreciate that we were lucky and priveleged to be there. The atmosphere at the game was incredible, a proper home game for LaR. Let nobody doubt that. It was up there with any big away game in France that Leinster have played and always struggled to win in. The Sea of Blue welcome for the team was sabotaged by the incompetence of the police/organisers in not closing off the road for a short time. The coach was diverted to another route, due to traffic, so they never got to see or drive through the supporters similar to previous finals and big days.
LaR the better team on the day but they will find that not everything goes your way the more they play in the serious end of this tournament, like all successful Euro champions have found, not just Leinster.
I really feel for the players, coaches, staff etc. who were desperate to atone (as they saw it) for the last few Euro seasons and give a winning send off to some Leinster Legends.
Thanks for all the great days lads!

Yeah the sea of blue at the supposed bus entrance point was fantastic, problem seemed to have been caused by a load of LAR fans (not saying it was on purpose) who had invaded the main roundabout leading down to that access point and the entire roundabout and access roads totally jammed up hence why the team bus went some other route. There was a very notable lack of any police anywhere near the ground so in a way chaos was king.

But in comparison to the chaos in Paris at the Liverpool game all pretty mild really....

[desperado]

Under pressure decision making not to go for 7 and settle for 3 continuously is not what this team has been doing this season but we did yesterday. Ultimately is it a mix of nerves and just trying to cling on and do enough rather than having the confidence to go out and win it in style ?

Who knows but Sexton reflected on the decision to go for 3's post match so there are questions to be asked.

Game had a similar feeling to Bilbao in many ways, we went into our shell that day too but squeaked it.

When it was 15-10 with a pen in their 22; I thought we should have gone for the corner. A 5 or 7 pointer there would have been it. We were at that end looking right down on it. I haven't had the stomach to look at the replay yet; but I really thought in the lead up to that pen we were close to getting over. We needed to stay there until we did. The amount of time wasting/taking the knee throughout by LAR was ridiculous. You can't argue with 3 tries to 0. Maybe we thought we'd get there with pens like Bilbao, but all day long this one had the bang of us needing a try.

[desperado]

Don’t buy the power argument at all. That was mental imo.

+1*2

[Dexter]

Just back today, exhausted, disappointed, but proud of our team and supporters. For us, we had a brilliant few days in Marseille and appreciate that we were lucky and priveleged to be there. The atmosphere at the game was incredible, a proper home game for LaR. Let nobody doubt that. It was up there with any big away game in France that Leinster have played and always struggled to win in. The Sea of Blue welcome for the team was sabotaged by the incompetence of the police/organisers in not closing off the road for a short time. The coach was diverted to another route, due to traffic, so they never got to see or drive through the supporters similar to previous finals and big days.
LaR the better team on the day but they will find that not everything goes your way the more they play in the serious end of this tournament, like all successful Euro champions have found, not just Leinster.
I really feel for the players, coaches, staff etc. who were desperate to atone (as they saw it) for the last few Euro seasons and give a winning send off to some Leinster Legends.
Thanks for all the great days lads!

Yeah the sea of blue at the supposed bus entrance point was fantastic, problem seemed to have been caused by a load of LAR fans (not saying it was on purpose) who had invaded the main roundabout leading down to that access point and the entire roundabout and access roads totally jammed up hence why the team bus went some other route. There was a very notable lack of any police anywhere near the ground so in a way chaos was king.

But in comparison to the chaos in Paris at the Liverpool game all pretty mild really....

Was thinking the same thing when I saw the TV earlier

[Dexter]

Under pressure decision making not to go for 7 and settle for 3 continuously is not what this team has been doing this season but we did yesterday. Ultimately is it a mix of nerves and just trying to cling on and do enough rather than having the confidence to go out and win it in style ?

Who knows but Sexton reflected on the decision to go for 3's post match so there are questions to be asked.

Game had a similar feeling to Bilbao in many ways, we went into our shell that day too but squeaked it.

When it was 15-10 with a pen in their 22; I thought we should have gone for the corner. A 5 or 7 pointer there would have been it. We were at that end looking right down on it. I haven't had the stomach to look at the replay yet; but I really thought in the lead up to that pen we were close to getting over. We needed to stay there until we did. The amount of time wasting/taking the knee throughout by LAR was ridiculous. You can't argue with 3 tries to 0. Maybe we thought we'd get there with pens like Bilbao, but all day long this one had the bang of us needing a try.

Yeah we started to get on top at that stage and they looked a bit gassed. They weren't as aggressive hitting rucks and I thought we just need a few more mins doing the same thing and we'd be in. Then things slowed down, injury breaks etc. and we never really got it going again.
In a way the game reminded me of Bordeaux in 2012, we were 4 points ahead defending on our line in the last minute, only that day Fofana knocked it on. Such tiny margins. TBF we scored a nice try that time but it was in the days before slowing the game to a stop start series of plays became a "tactic".

[ronk]

The lineout, what happened to our lineout.

Their ball was there to be attacked if we had gone for it. We half did a few times but not with commitment. There was no attempt to lift Molony by Doris for the lineout that led to their 2nd try, the one that got them back into the game.

It wouldn't have taken a lot of extra possession to make a difference towards the end. It's a shame that we had Toner available but weren't able to bring him on.

[El Diablo]

Under pressure decision making not to go for 7 and settle for 3 continuously is not what this team has been doing this season but we did yesterday. Ultimately is it a mix of nerves and just trying to cling on and do enough rather than having the confidence to go out and win it in style ?

Who knows but Sexton reflected on the decision to go for 3's post match so there are questions to be asked.

Game had a similar feeling to Bilbao in many ways, we went into our shell that day too but squeaked it.

When it was 15-10 with a pen in their 22; I thought we should have gone for the corner. A 5 or 7 pointer there would have been it. We were at that end looking right down on it. I haven't had the stomach to look at the replay yet; but I really thought in the lead up to that pen we were close to getting over. We needed to stay there until we did. The amount of time wasting/taking the knee throughout by LAR was ridiculous. You can't argue with 3 tries to 0. Maybe we thought we'd get there with pens like Bilbao, but all day long this one had the bang of us needing a try.

Agreed. Another big moment on 71 mins. If you watch the replay A'alattoa had a perfect jackal but Barnes pinged the tackler, Moloney for not rolling. It was so harsh....split second stuff. Looks to me like Ross completes the tackle and immediately rolls away. Unlike LaR, Leinster were very disciplned at the breakdown all day. They rolled away super fast almost every time up to this point so for him too ping us for that was cruel. A penalty to Leinster then would have been game over.

[RoboProp]

This was tough. I had a feeling after their first try this wasn't to be our day, que sera sera and all that. Our body language seemed off.

What really sticks in my craw is that neck roll and the French TV crew being a French TV crew and never replayed it so that Barnes could have a good view of it. Having not seen a replay my initial reaction was a yellow, if it was that would have had a huge impact on the game, it may have kept them more honest at the breakdown and less cynical, ah sure if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, then everyday would be erntedankfest.

[FLIP]

This was tough. I had a feeling after their first try this wasn't to be our day, que sera sera and all that. Our body language seemed off.

What really sticks in my craw is that neck roll and the French TV crew being a French TV crew and never replayed it so that Barnes could have a good view of it. Having not seen a replay my initial reaction was a yellow, if it was that would have had a huge impact on the game, it may have kept them more honest at the breakdown and less cynical, ah sure if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, then everyday would be erntedankfest.

I'm really not looking forward to the RWC in France now, having to watch a failed film directors takes on what a rugby game should look like.

[the spoofer]

I really hope both Leinster and Munster get to the URC final.

[FLIP]

I really hope both Leinster and Munster get to the URC final.

I don't want the ghouls to even have a sniff of the trophy after the shite they and their media have been putting out. I'd love to see Ulster win this weekend and for the only success they've had in over a decade being someone else's victory.