Don’t drop all the blame at Matt’s door

While it had initially looked like Matt O’Connor would see out the final year of his contract with Leinster, yesterday’s news of his departure wasn’t all that surprising.

It might have come as a shock to some of the Leinster players but if you’re outside the circle, it’s easy to see their performances and results haven’t been anything like we’d expect of them.

The change in style between O’Connor and Schmidt was always going to be a challenge for the squad, but you have to wonder how aware the players are that standards have slipped. We’ve all been guilty of that - you’re in your own bubble for so long, you look at things differently when you’re involved in something directly.