Murray Kinsella
Reports from Stade Marcel Deflandre
LEO CULLEN IS usually a picture of calm but even the Leinster boss must have been on the edge of his seat as a thrilling endgame played out at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
Roared on by an impressive contingent of travelling Leinster support, Cullen’s men had to hold out with the clock in the red.
Antoine Hastoy had just missed a long-range penalty attempt when Josh van der Flier came up with an excellent blockdown of his drop goal effort. 20 more phases of defence followed in a passage that lasted well over two minutes, but Leinster’s defence held firm. Hastoy’s forward pass drew the final whistle.
At the heart of Leinster’s defensive grandstand was captain Caelan Doris, who ended up with 26 tackles overall in another brilliant performance that also included several crucial turnovers, as well as 17 carries.
“Tough going, they have a lot of powerful runners coming at us pretty hard,” said Doris of those closing minutes of Leinster’s 16-14 win.
“I think it was pretty pleasing throughout, our defence stood up well and kept them tryless in the first half, kept going hitting them in twos. Some very good D sets, we got the ball back off quite a few and it was nice to keep them out at the end.
“It’s a hard place to come. We were on the right side of the result last year but we’ve obviously had a few where we haven’t been.
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“As was said in the dressing room there, you have to win ugly sometimes. It was far from perfect but I think the intent throughout was the most pleasing thing and the defence especially.”
Leinster head coach, Cullen, had similar feelings after watching his and Jacques Nienaber’s team edge an enthralling game of rugby in La Rochelle.
Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Leinster had several outstanding passages of defence but they had to react to lots of promising La Rochelle play too, with their ability to stay in the fight and scramble impressing once again.
“Listen, there’s plenty in the game for us to learn and get better from,” said Cullen.
“Four points, it was a proper, tough… not a knock-out game, but it had that feeling. Since the pools were drawn, it had that sense.”
Leinster’s first-half try through lock Joe McCarthy was a crucial moment, coming as it did after La Rochelle had piled pressure onto the visitors to little avail.
Ryan Baird’s sharp inside pass on second phase of the lineout strike allowed Jamie Osborne to break through Uini Atonio’s tackle attempt before he sent McCarthy over for a score that surely delighted attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal.
“It was a nicely worked try, Tyler’s creation,” said Cullen. “It was very good and that’s what you want.
“We had some other chances in that period. We weathered a lot of pressure in the first 20 minutes and you looked at the scoreboard and it was hard to believe, we were stuck at 3-3 there and the lads dug in well.
“To hit back and score a nicely-worked try in the shortside, well-executed, but we had some other chances after that. We had a lineout five metres out, didn’t quite get it right in terms of that transfer when we come down.
RG Snyman at the final whistle. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“We know La Rochelle are very aggressive at the ball in terms of contact area and they came up with a few different turnovers at different stages or spoiled possession and the ball was slipping out. We just didn’t… that was some of that accuracy part we didn’t quite nail on. But it was never going to be perfect today and overall we’re pleased.”
Next up is the visit of Bath to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday as Leinster go after a bonus-point win that would almost certainly confirm their status as one of the top two seeds, meaning home advantage for the knock-out stages.
“Win, lose or draw, we’d be saying the same thing – the pool’s not done,” said Cullen.
“When you have a big win like this you can sort of over-indulge yourself potentially.
“So, we’ll enjoy tonight, travel back and try and recover well and get ready for a game in six days’ time because it is a pool, not a knock-out, and the last thing we want to do is undo the great work of today’s performance and put in a proper performance in front of our own fans.”
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'You have to win ugly sometimes... it felt like a knock-out game'
LEO CULLEN IS usually a picture of calm but even the Leinster boss must have been on the edge of his seat as a thrilling endgame played out at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
Roared on by an impressive contingent of travelling Leinster support, Cullen’s men had to hold out with the clock in the red.
Antoine Hastoy had just missed a long-range penalty attempt when Josh van der Flier came up with an excellent blockdown of his drop goal effort. 20 more phases of defence followed in a passage that lasted well over two minutes, but Leinster’s defence held firm. Hastoy’s forward pass drew the final whistle.
At the heart of Leinster’s defensive grandstand was captain Caelan Doris, who ended up with 26 tackles overall in another brilliant performance that also included several crucial turnovers, as well as 17 carries.
“Tough going, they have a lot of powerful runners coming at us pretty hard,” said Doris of those closing minutes of Leinster’s 16-14 win.
“I think it was pretty pleasing throughout, our defence stood up well and kept them tryless in the first half, kept going hitting them in twos. Some very good D sets, we got the ball back off quite a few and it was nice to keep them out at the end.
“It’s a hard place to come. We were on the right side of the result last year but we’ve obviously had a few where we haven’t been.
“As was said in the dressing room there, you have to win ugly sometimes. It was far from perfect but I think the intent throughout was the most pleasing thing and the defence especially.”
Leinster head coach, Cullen, had similar feelings after watching his and Jacques Nienaber’s team edge an enthralling game of rugby in La Rochelle.
Leinster had several outstanding passages of defence but they had to react to lots of promising La Rochelle play too, with their ability to stay in the fight and scramble impressing once again.
“Listen, there’s plenty in the game for us to learn and get better from,” said Cullen.
“Four points, it was a proper, tough… not a knock-out game, but it had that feeling. Since the pools were drawn, it had that sense.”
Leinster’s first-half try through lock Joe McCarthy was a crucial moment, coming as it did after La Rochelle had piled pressure onto the visitors to little avail.
Ryan Baird’s sharp inside pass on second phase of the lineout strike allowed Jamie Osborne to break through Uini Atonio’s tackle attempt before he sent McCarthy over for a score that surely delighted attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal.
“It was a nicely worked try, Tyler’s creation,” said Cullen. “It was very good and that’s what you want.
“We had some other chances in that period. We weathered a lot of pressure in the first 20 minutes and you looked at the scoreboard and it was hard to believe, we were stuck at 3-3 there and the lads dug in well.
“To hit back and score a nicely-worked try in the shortside, well-executed, but we had some other chances after that. We had a lineout five metres out, didn’t quite get it right in terms of that transfer when we come down.
“We know La Rochelle are very aggressive at the ball in terms of contact area and they came up with a few different turnovers at different stages or spoiled possession and the ball was slipping out. We just didn’t… that was some of that accuracy part we didn’t quite nail on. But it was never going to be perfect today and overall we’re pleased.”
Next up is the visit of Bath to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday as Leinster go after a bonus-point win that would almost certainly confirm their status as one of the top two seeds, meaning home advantage for the knock-out stages.
“Win, lose or draw, we’d be saying the same thing – the pool’s not done,” said Cullen.
“When you have a big win like this you can sort of over-indulge yourself potentially.
“So, we’ll enjoy tonight, travel back and try and recover well and get ready for a game in six days’ time because it is a pool, not a knock-out, and the last thing we want to do is undo the great work of today’s performance and put in a proper performance in front of our own fans.”
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