IN THE BUILD-UP to today’s Champions Cup semi-final, many were saying that Leinster’s best chance of victory would be to take Toulon on with the ball in hand.
They actually did the opposite – and it very nearly worked.
Leinster dominated the lineout and the scrum for long periods and as the game entered the final stages, they were driving for the winning score. It fell to Jimmy Gopperth to try and nail the drop goal, but his effort drifted just wide.
The Leinster fans behind the goal began to celebrate wildly as the kick sailed towards the posts but Wayne Barnes emphatically waved it wide.
Leinster didn’t play much rugby over the course of their 100 minute 25-20 defeat but their pack fought tigerishly and they were a kick away from making their fourth European Cup final.
The decisive moment came after Ali Williams was sin-binned for Toulon. First, Leigh Halfpenny put the French side 18-15 ahead with a penalty and then Bryan Habana showed great instincts to jump in front of Ian Madigan’s mis-pass and race home.
Even when on the bench he didn’t get game time. The coach doesn’t like or trust him. Saturday once again showed just how wrong O’connor has been all season
O’Connor is just all wrong for Leinster.
He has a very big chance next season with Leinster during the World Cup, midfield won’t be as competitive so he should get a good run of matches.
Mark if Darcy doesn’t make the World Cup squad, he’ll play 12 with t’eo at 13. Then Madigan and sexton will be back so the midfield won’t be as easy to get into as you may think
That pop pass from O’Brien
Battle between him and Madigan for the 12 jersey next season.
It’s always to easy to see who coaches ‘just like/don’t like’. When Gopperth played badly it was ignored whereas when Madigan played mediocre or even if Reid played well decisions went against them.
It creates such a poisonous culture as some players start to feel entitled to spots and others feel it doesn’t matter how well they play they won’t get picked. Cody and Fergusson were masters at disregarding players identities and judging on match performance alone. MOC is such a stink manager.