Leinster will have to show their mettle to bounce back from bruising defeat
WHAT YOU COULD'VE WON: Leinster’s Ryan Baird dejected as he walks past the Investec Champions Cup trophy. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Bouncebackability. Toulouse found it at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday following back-to-back European semi-final losses in the last two seasons while Leinster now need it once more after a third final defeat in a row.
It is never easy to achieve, of course, and Leinster’s previous two setbacks at the hands of La Rochelle, in Marseille in 2022 and 12 months ago in Dublin, were followed by further disappointment in the form of URC semi-final exits on their own turf to the Bulls and then Munster.
There will be little chance for Leinster to wallow in the pain of this latest defeat as their focus switches immediately to the final round of the league campaign and a URC derby with Connacht this Friday night which they will have to win to have a chance of finishing in the top two and thereby staying at home throughout the play-off stages. Yet it will be extremely difficult to shake off their failure to seize the moment and join Toulouse as record-equalling five-time champions in their fourth final appearance since last lifting the trophy in 2018.
Leo Cullen’s players will rue the numerous chances they could not convert into tries throughout an absorbing and highly physical spectacle that needed extra time to decide it.
For they were outhustled at the breakdown by a canny, hustling Toulouse side led by their stellar scrum-half and captain Antoine Dupont, who himself produced one of the standout defensive moments to turnover Leinster ball close to his own tryline. And they were outsmarted in the decision-making department as Toulouse took the conservative route and kicked their way to stay one step ahead during regulation time while Leinster looked for giant leaps forward in the shape of seven-point strides and came up short on every occasion until the 93rd minute.
Yet it was stalemate at full-time on 80 minutes, tied at 15-15. No tries but four penalties apiece from Ross Byrne and Toulouse full-back Blair Kinghorn before Ciaran Frawley cancelled out fellow replacement goal-kicker Thomas Ramos with two minutes left to send the game to extra time in front of an engrossed crowd of 61,531 basking in the north London sunshine and relishing the battle playing out in front of them.
Frawley had narrowly missed the chance to seal victory with a last-minute drop goal but the additional time saw the game blown wide open, first by James Lowe’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. The Ireland wing had instinctively thrown out a hand to divert a Dupont pass on 81 minutes and his absence saw Leinster immediately stretched defensively, Matthis Lebel’s try coming two minutes later. Ramos converted from the touchline and then added a penalty soon after to send Toulouse into a 10-point lead at 25-15.
The second twist came on 89 minutes when Leinster’s newly-introduced veteran prop Cian Healy was struck on the head by the flying shoulder of replacement Toulouse lock Richie Arnold and sent off by referee Matthew Carley. Leinster finally seized their chance as Josh van der Flier dove over the line for a try on 93 minutes, converted by Frawley but then the concession of a couple of cheap penalties allowed Ramos to kick his side to victory by adding six points from the tee to see Toulouse home.
Leinster had dismantled a less accomplished and poorly disciplined Toulouse in the previous two semi-finals at Aviva Stadium but Ugo Mola’s team had learned their lessons and their ability to knock their rivals out of their rhythm, slowing down the quick ball they rely on to unlock defences was a telling development. Mola, it turns out, had even invented a new portmanteau for the week to get his plan across to a squad eager to avenge those Dublin defeats, marrying intensity and discipline to propose a mindset of "intencipline", according to second row Emmanuel Meafou, which helped to jackal Leinster to a standstill at times.
"He wasn't joking,” the Australian-raised, French Test lock said, “it was a mix of words, intensity and discipline and that was our word for the week, all week. Not a joke but something to really focus on, being intense in our physicality in our game and not giving away penalties, easy outs, and concentration in our half.
"We understood that they get really good ball off quick ball. So we understood it would be of advantage to slow the ruck down whether it was jackalling or just kinda counter-ruck and I think it worked in a couple of instances there, saved our asses at times.
"We want to be the best and we have to work hard to beat the best and Leinster are one of the best.” Beaten head coach Leo Cullen had described his players’ effort as immense and he and his staff have a task of similar proportions to get them to rebound from yet another deep disappointment to avoid a third season in a row ending without silverware.
Centre Robbie Henshaw, one of Leinster’s outstanding performers, suggested work had already begun in that regard but admitted he was bruised both mentally and physically by the encounter, that the soreness he felt was “everywhere”.
“It’s a tough one to take. Hard to summarise it. It was a game that had everything. Probably, looking back we were a little bit, I don’t know, not ourselves in that first period.
“In that first half we had loads of chances and a few balls just didn’t go to hand whereas it usually would. It will be tough to look back on it and see where it was lost. We had loads of chances.
“The difference between this year and last year is we fully believed, even up to the last few minutes, that we were going to go and win.
“There is full confidence in the group that we will win. Obviously not this year but we’ll keep building and keep building. We can’t look back, you have to keep going forward.
“We have a chance to go out next week and put our best shot into the URC and try and win a trophy this year.”
It sounds simple but it would be an almighty achievement if Leinster were able to park this setback and get that bounceback so quickly.
: H Keenan; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne (C Frawley, 69), J Gibson-Park; A Porter (C Healy, 88-92, Porter 92 HIA), D Sheehan (R Kelleher, 69), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa, 69); J McCarthy, J Jenkins (J Ryan, h-t); R Baird (J Conan, 59), W Connors (J van der Flier, 45), C Doris – captain.
Yellow Card: Lowe 81-91 mins Replacement not used: L McGrath
: B Kinghorn; J C Mallia (P Graou, 92), P Costes (T Ramos, 58), P Akhi (S Chocobares, 23), M Lebel; R Ntamack, A Dupont – captain; C Baille (R Neti, 58), P Mauvaka (J Marchand, 54-96), D Aldegheri (J Merkler, 54); T Flament, E Meafou (R Arnold, 54); J Willis, F Cros (J Brennan, 68; Meafou 80-90, HIA; Cros for Meafou 90, HIA), A Roumat.
Red Card: Arnold 89 mins
Matthew Carley (England)
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
