Leinster looking to avoid any more arrows as Toulon come to town

Leinster coach Robin McBryde was reminded of a Buddhist story as he thought back to a disappointing period in Leinster's 2025 season

Leinster lost 29-26 to Benetton at the weekend. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

If there’s any team that understands how history can repeat itself then it’s Leinster.

Leo Cullen’s side lost three successive Champions Cup finals between 2022 and 2024, all to French opposition, so other uncomfortable similarities may not sit too well as they approach Saturday’s semi-final at home to a side they’re favoured to beat.

It’s 12 months since Northampton Saints pulled off one of the competition’s greatest shocks by edging a last four tie at the Aviva Stadium. Now it’s Toulon making their way to Ballsbridge in the hope of upsetting the odds and claiming a place in the final in Bilbao.

Let’s take this one step further again.

That Saints defeat came on the back of an away URC loss for Leinster the week before. It was Scarlets who bettered them in April of 2025. This time around? Another surprise league loss, though in Italy and against a Benetton side routed the week before by Munster.

Robin McBryde didn’t need reminding of that last comparison.

“What’s in my mind is that at the same stage of last season we went away to the Scarlets and lost before facing Northampton. My learnings from that was don’t waste your time looking backwards. It’s all about Saturday in front.

“There’s a Buddhist story about avoiding the second arrow. If you get shot in the back with an arrow, you spend so much time worrying about the first arrow you forget about where the second arrow is coming from.

“You just keep on piling on the misery of that metaphorical arrow,” said the Leinster forwards coach. “On the back of a loss, all those voices in your head saying, ‘you’re not good enough’, we’ve got to avoid all of that.” 

The question is, has everyone learned the same lesson?

“We’ll find out Saturday. We’re aware of it, but my own experience is that we spent too much time worrying about what went wrong against the Scarlets, and that took up way too much energy in the week before focusing on Northampton.

“You can’t ignore it. It’s there, but you can’t dwell on it. It is what it is. Move on.” 

That loss to Benetton brought a four-game winning run to an end but it was of a piece with the province’s season to date, one that has yet to fully convince. McBryde, like others, has admitted as much. Inconsistent, he said. Yet to hit their straps.

They approach the weekend with Ryan Baird missing again with an injury related to the tibia he fractured playing for Ireland last November, and one that cost him four months of the season. McBryde couldn’t say if it will rule him out for the season at this point.

Unfortunate, but there is a much stickier situation in the front row where Paddy McCarthy, Jack Boyle and Alex Usanov all remain unavailable on the loosehead side while Andrew Porter continues to sit in the wait-and-see category.

Ed Byrne, signed short-term from Cardiff as emergency cover, started last week with Jerry Cahir taking his place off the bench. If Porter doesn’t make it then Byrne can be added to their European roster as emergency cover. Needs must.

Things aren’t quite so tight on the other side but Tadhg Furlong, taken off early in the second quarter against Benetton, is another in the grey zone and a man whose recent injury profile makes his current status all the more concerning.

“Listen, fortunately, we've got Thomas Clarkson, who I thought came on and did very well. The experiences of someone like Rabah Slimani as well. And then we've got two youngsters coming through in Niall Smyth and Andrew Sparrow as well.” 

Slimani will be a handy resource this week, regardless of minutes played on the pitch, what with his intimate knowledge of the French scrum culture. The veteran will be returning to the Top 14 next year, in fact, with none other than this weekend’s opposition.

Pierre Mignoni’s side has rebounded in April after what was a tricky couple of months. They come to Dublin after four wins on the bounce, one of them in Glasgow and another in Pau. They bring star power in the backs, but up front too.

“Listen, they're very effective at doing what they do, but they've definitely got a strong maul that we've been looking at this week. And they've got a couple of individuals in the midst of them that are pretty experienced as well.

“You've got Kyle Sinckler  as a front-rower, Ribbans, you’ve got Ollivon as well who's a menace in the air, as well as the other guy, Abadie, or whatever his name is. He's got the most steals. So there's little things like that that start to stand out to me as a forwards coach.”