European Cup Rugby

[cowpat]

ROG is rent free in the Leinster heads. Some of them on twitter are pretty ungracious cunts. Entitled bastards.

[LionelRitchie]

Lineout pretty much a given, particularly if inside attacking 22 as many wont contest in the air as don’t want to risk rolling maul driving where the jumper was

[myboyblue]

Throw up a few of the tweets there for the craic

[corner_back]

Leinster had an extra prop on instead of black carded hooker so scrum possibly stronger

[gilgamboa]

@Julio_Geordio

Was it weird that la Rogchelle kicked for touch with the last two penos rather than going for a scrum. Would have thought scrum the better option for retaining possession. Was it because the prop was gone and they’d have to make a sub or what was the thinking would you say?

No ref factor in the lineout really is one…plus get as far away from the line as they could. Were v brave with both those lineouts too went to the back

[gilgamboa]

@Julio_Geordio

I know you can lose a penalty on it, but I’d say thats 1 in 5. Whereas a lineout is more like 1 in 4. I don’t know I’m just talking shite here obviously

I’d say la rochelle lineout running at way higher than 80% success…won all of them at weekend maybe can’t recall any lost ones

[tallback]

@Tim_Riggins

Him not taking that kick and going for a drop goal might have been a bottle but more likely tactical.

I think he’s a 7/10 player, very serviceable but very much a squad guy.

That kick was very marginal. 50+m on the angle into the wind after 75 mins. i think it was the right decision not to take it on.

People are quick to comment on the lack of drop-goal effort but not many mentioning the excellent pass in the first half to get a try.

I saw Crowley the previous week. Nice drop goal but i didn’t think he shone much apart from that. Both are a step down from peak Sexton but that’s not really all that surprising- one of the all time great 10s.

[gilgamboa]

@tallback

That kick was very marginal. 50+m on the angle into the wind after 75 mins. i think it was the right decision not to take it on.

I’d agree it was marginal. But worth a pop in circumstances. Worst that happen you get ball back on halway

[gilgamboa]

@tallback

People are quick to comment on the lack of drop-goal effort but not many mentioning the excellent pass in the first half to get a try.

I saw Crowley the previous week. Nice drop goal but i didn’t think he shone much apart from that. Both are a step down from peak Sexton but that’s not really all that surprising- one of the all time great 10s.

Yeah I thought Byrne had done fine in first half and I’m a big fan of his. I’d have picked him for Munster ahead of Carbery a thousand times. The comparison with sexton is as irrelevant as it is unsurprising

I think he was average in 2nd half though. He was part of a group that failed horribly in exiting when they had the ball and I think the lack of control around setting up a dg option was poor. Looked like it never entered his head

[flattythehurdler]

If lowe played for Waterford he’d spend half the day badge kissing after winning a 65

[cowpat]

David Hewson

[cowpat]

ROG ROG ROG

https://twitter.com/man61_old/status/1660014410230902786/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1660014410230902786&currentTweetUser=man61_old

[Fagan_ODowd]

Byrne contributed absolutely nothing in that second half. A decent outhalf would have demanded the ball and got some decent territory.
Question marks over Ringrose too. Possibly not officer class. Steamrolled by Danty in the first half. It was up to him as captain to call the play for a drop goal. His response to Peyper when the lad was being sent off was like you’d get from a 10 yr old. “What about Danty, I suppose that was low danger”

Question marks about the famed Leinster squad depth as well. The laddie who came on for Furlong looked about half his size and Porter had to stay on all game.

[Thomas_Brady]

La Rochelle has a population of 75k
Leinster 2.8 million

Twice David has Slayed the giant

[the_man_himself]

Thrice I think

[Thomas_Brady]

Wow

[Thornhill]

I saw the start of the game and parts there after.
Leinster started at a ferocious tempo and almost blew them away. Almost. But La R stayed in it and at half time with the scores the way they were it was pretty much game on only Leinster had spent a lot more of their fitness and mental energy to get to where they were. To go in 9 points up was great but I’d say with what Leinster put into the half to get there killed them.
I thought Leinster would try and work a drop goal to win it but they seemed to be unwilling or unable to do it and tried to clatter over the line with the forwards.

[Bisto]

@cowpat

ROG is rent free in the Leinster heads. Some of them on twitter are pretty ungracious cunts. Entitled bastards.

Surely ROG is an entitled as they come ?

[Fagan_ODowd]

Ger Loughnanesque. Sean O’Brien was sent down to the tunnel to mark ROG O’Gara

Investigation on half-time spat not yet scheduled

Direction it takes will most likely hinge on referee’s version of events

Any European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) investigation into the half-time verbal exchange involving back room staff from La Rochelle and Leinster at Saturday’s Champions Cup final is not going to begin for at least another couple of days. The direction it then takes will most likely hinge on Jaco Peyper’s version of events.

On foot of the South African referee’s interpretation of the matter, it remains to be seen whether the tournament organisers will seek statements from any other parties. No EPCR representative witnessed the heated exchange after the conclusion of the first-half.

The seeds of the row appear to have been sewn at last year’s final between the same two sides, with several Leinster sources claiming that La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara approached the match referee in Marseille, Wayne Barnes, during the interval to air grievances about decisions in the first-half.

Mindful of that, it is understood that one of the Leinster assistant coaches, Sean O’Brien, was stationed inside the tunnel before the end of the first-half to prevent O’Gara approaching Peyper. The Leinster dressingroom was nearer those of the match officials than the La Rochelle dressingroom.

Reports then vary as to whether O’Gara was prevented from speaking with Peyper by his former Irish team-mate Sean O’Brien or was politely rebuffed by the South African officials. Either way, O’Gara and O’Brien, had a verbal spat and others joined in, including several from La Rochelle – with reports again varying as to whether Will Skelton was part of the row – and Johnny Sexton, who also briefly exchanged words with O’Gara before the matter ended. The episode apparently lasted 30 seconds at most.

The EPCR “will be investigating this as soon as practicable”. But most likely, nothing will come of the incident, especially if there was little or no exchange with the match officials, and it’s possible that O’Brien’s intervention with O’Gara prevented that from happening.

Last Saturday’s titanic final, which La Rochelle won by 27-26, was also overshadowed somewhat by the post-match claim from winning captain Grégory Alldritt that his counterpart James Ryan had shown him disrespect at the pre-match coin toss.

“From the toss, already, we were not respected,” claimed Alldritt. “He [\Ryan] didn’t look me in the eye when he shook my hand. And that should not be done. There are a lot of values in our club.”

Yet, contrary to what Alldritt claimed, there are pictures of Ryan clearly looking Alldritt directly in the eye. But such a narrative is all part of O’Gara instilling the belief in his team that Leinster did not respect them.

Bizarre action

O’Gara further stoked the fires when adding: “Yeah, I got word of it down on the pitch. Obviously, I have a close relationship with my captain – a bizarre action when they were going for the toss. Normally, you engage eyes and no eyes were engaged. Greg was disappointed and let down.”

O’Gara added: “Obviously Leinster were the home team in terms of accommodation for the families, post-match gigs. I think we’re in Lansdowne. We couldn’t get a room in this place. It’s disappointing on that front, but we’ve got to accept that we’re seen as the little team, but that’s about to change.”

However, the final was not a Leinster game and EPCR offered both clubs a room for a post-match gathering to accommodate up to 100 people. La Rochelle wanted a room for 300 and so opted to hire a bigger room in the adjacent Lansdowne club house, while the beaten Leinster squad decamped to the RDS for an altogether more solemn gathering.

Gerry Thornley

[BruidheanChaorthainn]

@tallback

@Tim_Riggins

Him not taking that kick and going for a drop goal might have been a bottle but more likely tactical.

I think he’s a 7/10 player, very serviceable but very much a squad guy.

That kick was very marginal. 50+m on the angle into the wind after 75 mins. i think it was the right decision not to take it on.

People are quick to comment on the lack of drop-goal effort but not many mentioning the excellent pass in the first half to get a try.

I saw Crowley the previous week. Nice drop goal but i didn’t think he shone much apart from that. Both are a step down from peak Sexton but that’s not really all that surprising- one of the all time great 10s.

You’ll still get the ball and not too far from range either.

Crowley has a huge chance next week. He’ll take great confidence from the Leinster performance imo. His score for improvement is absolutely huge. Byrne is 28 and spent a large amount of his career being a sub.