THE MAIN EVENT won’t kick-off until later this evening but the Aviva Stadium might have already seen the performance of the weekend during a busy Friday at the Dublin venue.
You sensed there was a bit of mischief about Ronan O’Gara yesterday as soon as he entered the Aviva Stadium press room wearing a bright red tracksuit top, a sartorial decision made all the more entertaining by the fact the rest of the travelling La Rochelle group were dressed in black.
After an engaging and typically insightful Q&A session where the La Rochelle director of rugby dipped between English and French, O’Gara joined his team out on the Aviva Stadium turf for their Captain’s Run, taking part in a one-man crossbar challenge and catching up with familiar faces – including a jog across the pitch to hug the groundsman – while his players stretched, ran about a bit, and generally just looked to be enjoying themselves.
As was the case before last year’s decider in Marseille, the La Rochelle group looked far more relaxed in their approach than Leinster, who ran through the early part of their Captain’s Run with a greater level of precision and detail, a day after a nicely spiky training session at UCD.
It’s possible there’s nothing much to read into the different approaches from both sides but over the course of the week, it’s been harder and harder to escape the sense the pressure is all on Leinster ahead of today’s Heineken Champions Cup final [KO 4.45pm, RTÉ/BT Sport/ITV].
In his own pre-match press conference, Leo Cullen told his players to embrace that pressure. It’s about the only option they have. A win today, in front of a sold-out Dublin crowd, would finally erase the ghosts of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, and send the departing Stuart Lancaster and Johnny Sexton out on a high. Defeat would signal two straight seasons without a trophy and, somewhat remarkably, just one Champions Cup title across the past 11 years.
All season the expectation around this group has been sky-high as they breezed their way to today’s final, but they haven’t faced a team like La Rochelle since the same opposition inflicted the most haunting Champions Cup defeat of the Leo Cullen/Stuart Lancaster era last May. With 78 minutes on the clock, Leinster were four points up and just moments away from reaching the promised land. Then Arthur Retiere stretched an arm over the line, Ihaia West knocked over the extras and O’Gara’s already rising stock skyrocketed.
So what’s changed? The province go into the game without the services of Sexton but still, they feel they are in a better place than they were 12 months ago.
A number of the squad underperformed in last year’s final, with Caelan Doris and Hugo Keenan both admitting to being frustrated with their displays in Marseille during the pre-match build-up this week. Both players head into today’s encounter playing the best rugby of their careers, and the same can be said for the likes of Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan, to name a few.
Their attack has also evolved. O’Gara is sure the Leinster attack coach, Andrew Goodman – an old friend from the Corkman’s Crusaders days – has kept “something up his sleeve” for this game and it’s also been notable that the attacking variations around tap-and-go penalties which proved so fruitful for Leinster earlier in the season have been kept in the back pocket recently. Watch this space.
Having perhaps been overly cautious in Marseille last year – failing to score a try and turning down the corner for the posts across a series of tantalisingly kickably penalties – they’ll need to bring more ambition to their approach. When you boast the most impressive attacking system in Europe, it makes sense to play to those strengths. Yet they’ll also need to be deadly accurate at the breakdown, and the presence of Doris at six in a backrow which also includes Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan indicates they are keen to match La Rochelle’s power game early on, before an injection of energy off the bench to see them home.
La Rochelle have physically bettered Leinster across the last two seasons but they are so much more than brute enforcers. The French side have plenty of flair in their backline and as evident at the Stade Velodrome, even for such big men, fitness isn’t a concern.
And just like their boss, these players seem to embrace pressure. O’Gara has forged his team into ruthless competitors but they still enjoy their rugby.
“We do have fun but we’ve high standards,” O’Gara explained.
“We have ambition to do something special in these players’ lives. I’m not really interested in having a job. I love what I do, we love what we do, we get chance to play for each other in the final of a European Cup.
It doesn’t get any better, doesn’t get any bigger, we’re in the home of Leinster, it’s a really daunting task but a great challenge but one we want to succeed in.
“We going in there (today) and we’ll either grow or shrink. What I’ve seen from my boys is they love it, they care for each other, they’ve prepared all season for this game and it’s to be attacked than be feared.
“As a player I would have been damn nervous, as a coach I’m extremely excited about it. Where else do you want to be? It’s a Heineken Cup final in Dublin and we’re ready to go.”
And still, if the defending champions were to go back-to-back today, the result would largely be viewed as an upset given the opposition, and the stage.
O’Gara didn’t spend much time talking about Leinster, outlining his respect for the province but preferring to focus on his own team. They too seem to have grown since last year, with a more competitive squad who appear to be hitting top form just as it matters most. For the third year running, they might well just prove a bridge too far for Leinster.
“They are exceptional opposition,” said Garry Ringrose. “They seem to go from strength to strength every time we play.
“I think they have a stronger squad again this year with some of the new additions. So I mean the difference for us, we still prepared as best we can, to come up with a plan to try and stop them.
“Obviously we have been unsuccessful twice. So hopefully third time lucky but they’re just a great team, and we know we have to be at our best if we want to beat them.
“It’s a bit of an experience, it is great being at home here, and hopefully having a few more Leinster supporters that could get behind us in those tough moments, which I’ve no doubt will be there against the quality side that La Rochelle are.
“If it is a tough day they can help us along as well.”
And there will be periods where life gets tough for Leinster. Whether or not they now have the ability to survive those storms has been the big question lurking in the background all year. Today we’ll get the answer in a final that pits the two best teams in Europe against each other. Just the way it should be.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Ross Molony, James Ryan (captain); Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Michael Ala’alatoa, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird, Luke McGrath, Ciaran Frawley, Charlie Ngatai.
LA ROCHELLE: Brice Dulin; Dillyn Leyds, UJ Seuteni, Jonathan Danty, Raymond Rhule; Antoine Hastoy, Tawera Kerr Barlow; Reda Wardi, Pierre Bourgarit, Uini Atonio; Romain Sazy, Will Skelton; Paul Boudehent, Levani Botia, Grégory Alldritt (captain).
Replacements: Quentin Lespiaucq Brettes, Joel Sclavi, Georges Henri Colombe, Thomas Lavault, Remi Bourdeau, Ultan Dillane, Thomas Berjon, Jules Favre.
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
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I think we have not seen the best of Leinster yet. Leinster to win have the faith
@Phillip Keohane: absolute nonsense from you as usual
Its basically Ireland at home. Of course there is pressure as there was in the six nations but it’s pressure these players can use to spur themselves on to victory. The best team in the country against the reigning champions who won last year in France. Let’s see how they manage away from home. Looking forward to this. Comon Leinster!
@Ro Mo: Marseille is 823km across the other side of France. The Aviva is 1km from the RDS. To say La Rochelle were at home last year is a bit of a stretch. The two situations are not comparable
@Les Wynan: more to do with the breakdown of support in the stadium, was about 90% La Rochelle last year, so a de facto home game
@Ro Mo: it’s almost Ireland at home but not quite – some key men for Ireland missing!! My fear is that LAR have started us down the road where the best European club is better than any National side, just like soccer
@Ciaran Twomey: both sets of fans had to fly to the destination realistically. LAR fans could have driven but it’s 8 hours across France. Leinster fans just didn’t show up because they’re not as supportive.
@Les Wynan: that’s my take on it too. I’m bemused that ppl say it was like a home final when it was Leinster fans or rather lack of that made it so.
@Ciaran Kennedy: You really should be charging rent.
There’s pressure on LAR to retain the title, to show they can do it outside France, to do it where the majority of the crowd are roaring on the opposition.
Lots of pressure on both sides for different reasons. Whoever doesn’t handle that well is likely to lose. An early try would imo be massive for Leinster not having scored one last year. Might also plant a small seed of doubt in a seemingly confident opposition who didn’t concede one last year.
Looking forward to a great game and hopefully the first of two Irish wins.
@TL55: Exactly. This nonsense of trying to pile pressure on one side as if the other is turning up for a relaxing day out with hothing on the line. I wonder if its just Irish media that do this or is it the same everywhere.
1 in 11 years or 3 in 13 ??
@Andrew: if they were easy to win they’d mean nothing!! LAR have won 1 ever !!
@Andrew: I love stats.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it didn’t live up to the hype and Leinster shredded them in the first 40…. I know I know, that won’t happen but a man can dream
A huge day for Leinster, but a big one too for Ireland’s world cup chances, we need to show we can beat again team’s with several forwards much much bigger than ours.
Let’s just hope Leinster have a go, and go for it – if they do, and I don’t think they did last year, I think they’ll win by 15. I don’t underestimate LR, but I think if Leinster win it’s more likely to be by 15 than 1-2 points.
@Andrew Hurley: we’ve been doing that for the last 12months!! Virtually every pack we play against in Tier 1 is bigger, particularly South Africa, France and England
Has the feel of a good game about it. Think there’s loads of pressure on both sides – for different reasons. La Rochelle to retain their title and Leinster to win at home and all that brings. It’s kind of a champ or chump day for Leinster though. For what it’s worth I think Leinster will be comfortable enough and should beat the bookies spread so it’ll be a 7+ win. Playing at home must be worth 7 points alone I think. Scoring tries will be key though. Hopefully it’ll be a good game and best of luck to both sides. Looking forward to it.
@JimDemps: Agree completely with all of this, you look good in blue Jim
Pressure ALL on Leinster? Sure they’re at home, and desperately want a win to positively cement the legacy of the last 5-7 years, but there’s pressure on La Rochelle too. I’m sure their benefactors and fans would like a return on all that recruitment – of their starting XV only 1/15 (Boudehent) spent any time in the LaR youth system, while only 9/15 are French-qualified. The comparative figures for Leinster are 12/15 being home-grown and 15/15 being Irish-qualified.
@Niall Daly: this is the challenge – people with money building teams that become better than national sides like soccer!! Man City would beat World Cup winners Argentina 5-0, it wouldn’t be a contest. People used to talk about the jump in standard between club & country but for the top European soccer teams it’s now a plummet in standard…. If ‘Rent a Team’ keeps winning this trophy it will be the end of club Rugby as we know it and very rare if any Irish wins based on our home player emphasis! Of course the corollary to this is Rugby World Cup would potentially get easier to win
@Bert far: If you’re talking about European rugby, it was far worse in the past – Toulon really were a team of galacticos. LAR not in the same league as them
@Bert far: As far as I’m aware they are supported/sponsored by 500 local businesses. They generate huge revenue by virtue of the fact they’ve sold out 80 games in a row!
Sounds like a rugby club where passionate locals have literally bought into their club and are immensely proud of it.
The good guys according to you in this game are Leinster. The underdogs relying on their poor alud (largely private) schools/academy system,both of which have and contine to receive countless millions in support.
I dare say if you broke down the real cost involved to produce and pay for each team toaday Leinster would most certainly come out on top.
So if you’re looking to throw the sugar daddy thing around..I suggest you start closer to home(on the mean streets of Ailesbury Rd) my friend.
@Brian Mitchell: Conveniently forgot the point of imported or homegrown in your rant there my friend. Anything about costs is beyond anecdotal framed in a manner you want to suit your argument as there is nothing factual to back that up, so dare away good sir but it means nothing. Even more interesting how you frame the support for one as being local but the other as having millions pumped into it from…blank? Do you think maybe the money the schools raise comes from local and past students too? But that doesn’t sound as good in the context of the narrative being peddled does it.
@PJ Smith: I see a comment that tries to smear a club like La Rochelle as a Man City of Rugby.. I call it out.
They don’t have a Sheikh Mansour bank rolling it. I never suggested they didn’t have a multi million budget, rather pointing out the source of that money and the hypocrisy of some to have us believe Leinster don’t have a massive budget themselves that is underpinned by an extremely well founded schools and academy system.
Obviously theres a sense of pride in home grown players in your team.. but the higher moral ground being sought by some is simply laughable.
And dam right money in schools comes from locals and past students, hence my sugar daddy comment.
Don’t paint a club as something theyre not and don’t try to tell me Leinster Rugby hasn’t bought success either..
@Brian Mitchell: Fair enough but you clearly tried to skew the narrative towards flipping rather than drawing them level. There’s a difference between bought and invested that’s lost on you though. Locals and past students aren’t sugar daddies and money invested at grass roots level to bring players through is certainly not the same as raising money to buy in players no matter how much you want it to be.
@PJ Smith: At the end of the day, I’m not trying to detract from Leinsters system or success Its the envy of world rugby right now, within an extremely well run national system.
Also,I’m not naive enough to think I dont benefit from this system when cheering on Ireland.
But lets not pretend that system doesn’t take huge financial investment to implement and sustain. And thereafter is just semantics really.. investing short term or long term is still an investment. Not everyone can go the Leinster route and this is Professional Rugby after all. Just find this side narrative of homegrown heroes V Galacticos a bit disingenuous really..
All that been said I do wish Leinster all the best today .. and would like them to see win for the benefit of Irish Rugby in general.
@Brian Mitchell: I’d disagree it’s just semantics but that’s my personal view as I have a very strong view on wanting the team I support to be representative of the people that make it up and the supporters. But we can certainly agree on wanting to see Leinster win and I’ll also say LAR certainly aren’t the worst, cough Toulon cough.
I have been to more than a few finals and each one had a big mix of all supporters present so even in dublin the support for leinster might not be as big as some think. Even so Leinster to shade it at home. Allez le Blue
Fingers crossed today is the day the box of attacking tricks is opened, particularly those tap n go variations we saw earlier in the season. On the Train up from Portlaoise, a wave of Blue at the station. Quick ruck speed – we win. If they can slow and spoil, we’ll be in trouble. BLUE ABU!!!
Leinster went into their shell last year and tried to win an arm wrestle, which played into la rochelle’s strengths.
They have to approach this like the last 2 semi’s Vs Toulouse and attack with high tempo
Do that and la Rochelle won’t be able to live with them.
@Oran Burns: Agreed. Can’t just opt for 3 every time, need to put the foot on the neck and keep it there until it’s a done deal. Based on how we’ve played so far this season we’re more than capable.
All I hope is that they learned from the 2 defeats to la rochelle. I say 1 to 2 points. I do still back leinster
I’ve absolutely no time for Leinster and seriously hope they are destroyed today. Anybody but Leinster, anybody but Leinster, from a proud Dub. As for their fanbase, boy oh boy, I won’t even go there.
@MartyCharles: it’s all right Marty we feel the same about you.
@MartyCharles: do you need a hug Marty?
@Fintan Lawton: exactly what i mean, thank you
@Mike Kennedy: no thanks, I’d love Leinster to loose if wouldn’t mind, which i think they will
@MartyCharles: A United fan no doubt.
@MartyCharles: Your welcome always aim to please Marty enjoy the match :-)
@Terry Downs: nope, a Dub fan, you wouldn’t know HEINO
ROG is a knob and always has been, even when he played for Ireland
@James Carolan: Real rugby respect for the opponent that.
With winning a series in nz,winning a grand slam this team can’t possibly lose to la rochelle can they??
@Papa Kilo: Leinster is probably 80% of the Irish team. Players crucial to Irelands success are not in the Leinster team. Beirne, Hansen, Bealham, Herring etc.