18 May 2024; Charlie Ngatai of Leinster evades the tackle of Rob Herring of Ulster on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Whoever made the call to kick to the line when we are 1 point ahead with 10 minutes to go and straight in front of the posts probably cost us the chance to top the table. A win and we were top and had it totally in our own hands but for sone reason I still can’t fathom we decided to completely f**k it up. Totally sickened right now. Not to take anything away from Ulster who completely deserved the victory tonight but its very rarely you can be so outplayed and still have the chance to come away with a win. We need to see a completely different mindset from Leinster next weekend if we are finally going to get our hands on star number 5.
William Andrew
A dreadful lack of nous to lose that game. Continually kicking the ball away with 5 mins on the clock hoping to make ten meters is not great. A 30 meter through kick to force a Ulster line out in their 22 would have burned a min at least. Plus they are now in danger of conceding a penalty.
Several generations of former Leinster 10s and 9s must be shaking their heads.
Berchmans Gannon
From the sideline the box kicking is not the way to go.
Chasing a bonus point ahead of a win is questionable.
Shit happens! I will still support Leinster without the need for a slaughter of Managment.
Kevin Kelehan
Decent game that could have gone either way, the losing bonus point will get Leinster at least a home QF, the win will guarantee Ulster top tier cup rugby next season.
Colin Mehigan
Another uninspiring performance if I’m honest….our high profile coaching ticket need to rethink strategy
Very expensive defeat for Leinster. Terrible game management, can’t believe they didn’t take three with a kick under the posts when they were struggling to convert from close in. And an intercept try! Tear your hair out stuff.
Weird game. Should have been miles back by half time, bur should have won it comfortably in the second. That's not just top spot but also quite possibly a home semi-final gone unless Sharks and Ulster do us a favour next week. #ULSvLEI
Last night's result was disappointing & there were aspects of Leinster's play which weren't good enough over the 80.
But it was always going to be a tight game, & was won by a single kick. Let's give Ulster some credit too, imperfect but strong in patches, got it done.
Cant complain with result, but it still was there to be won at the end and clinical finishing we had shown with limited possession disappeared in final qtr. We didnt manage subs well either IMO. Credit to Ulster, Cooney immense, back row won breakdown battle #ULSvLEI
11 May 2024; Jordan Larmour of Leinster scores his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ospreys at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
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Frawley looked very comfortable when he went to 10. Another very accomplished game for him. Just wished he got more game time there! Lots still to work on.
Peter Tracey
O’Brien looked sharp and has some serious pace. JGP and Frawley really sped the game up when they played together.
Frankie Taylor
Buzzing. Jimmy was incredible
David White
The spies from Toulouse in the stands leant nothing coz Ospreys were so poor
Tony Doyle
Good win and a great second half by Leinster
Came out from break strong and never looked back. Managed the game really well, kept them pinned back. JOB deserved PotM but Larmour another contender, JVDF in the pack too. Interesting to see selection next week but very happy for now.#LEIvOSP
LEINSTER : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Jamie Osborne 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath
1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Dan Sheehan 17. Michael Milne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jack Conan 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Charlie Ngatai 23. Tommy O’Brien
OSPREYS : 15. Max Nagy 14. Luke Morgan 13. Owen Watkin 12. Keiran Williams 11. Keelan Giles 10. Dan Edwards 9. Reuben Morgan-Williams
1. Nicky Smith 2. Dewi Lake 3. Rhys Henry 4. James Ratti 5. Huw Sutton 6. Harri Deaves 7. Justin Tipuric (c) 8. Morgan Morris
16. Sam Parry 17. Gareth Thomas 18. Tom Botha 19. Victor Sekekete 20. Jac Morgan 21. Luke Davies 22. Jack Walsh 23. Evardi Boshoff
4 May 2024; James Lowe of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s second try during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and Northampton Saints at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
🏉 Jamie & James 🏉 Chronic knockonitis 🏉 First score after break 🏉 Saints go marching 🏉 Captain Caelan
After the high of La Rochelle, there was always the risk of a down day.
That being said, we were great in bursts, and were in control for most of the game. The third try had as many “moments” in the buildup phases as any I can remember (I haven’t rewatched it, so I may be misremembering). Furlong’s reverse offload out of the tackle Bairds gallop, Henshaw somehow staying in field to keep the ball alive.
John Hyland
They did well kicking behind us, and using their wingers’ speed in the chase. Our back three look short of pace. Keenan is needed and I reckon Rob Russell might come in for Larmour.
Kevin Kelehan
Great stadium, great crowd, never say die opponents who were an absolute credit to themselves when down and out but dragged themselves back into make it very tight game. Leinster played well for 50 minutes but some very aimless kicking will doubtless be lacerated in the debrief, the pack who gave better than they got must have been super frustrated at times. Doris as always a terrier on the gainline
Gavin Hegarty
A great place to be in to say that we weren’t good but we still won a semi. If we play against Toulouse like that they will take us apart. At halftime we should have been further ahead but my god in the second half we fell asleep. The most unleinsterlike performance in a longtime.
Byrne left a few points out there from the tee but other than that was epic first half.
I was at it and feel as a club we let ourselves down. Atmosphere was lacking anything. Was dead quiet at times. Yes the stadium was blue but we failed to create the cauldron we needed.
I’ll watch it again but from the davin lower it looked like reynal was a bit indecisive. Not checking Frawley being taken out in the air again? I think peno and yellow
Pat Curran
Leinster will have to include Gary Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and James Ryan for the final. It could be what’s required for a European final.
Shouldn't have been as tight, few points left out on the boot.
But in honesty we went into our shell in the 2nd half, fair play to Saints, really quality team.
Nerves shredded. But never any harm to scrape into a final. Northampton will have regrets at how much ball they spilled in that first half. Leinster good at times, ok at others and thoroughly mediocre in several in the last half hour.
Great to see Gus McCarthy step up, a steep learning curve for the emerging squad members, far from ideal to have back to back away games in South Africa when squad rotation is at its peak. The lads showed decent fight in the third quarter but the errors in the first half were mostly preventable.
Greg Kelly
*Copy and Paste last week’s comments*
On the bright side our young lads dominated the 3rd quarter but the inexperience and inaccuracies were evident. They’ll get better and they’ll learn from this. However if we end up trophyless again this season I’m not sure these “kids school trips” to SA will not cut the mustard.
In a wider sense I don’t like where the URC is going. Some of the fixure scheduling is…suspicious. I think the SA franchises are gaining more than they add to it and teams being forced by pragmatism, timing or necessity to give up 2 games and 10 points undermines true competition.
Richard Kennedy
A big rethink needed on sending our 2nd/3rd string down to get pummelled in by hardened pros in SA. Some of those young players simply aren’t ready for that level yet
Warren Doyle
Much as expected. Training ground stuff didn’t work in the heat of battle. Very little inivotive thinking once that failed. Experience – yes. Knowledge – ?. Could be critical but players don’t need that.
No suprise there, really. Cullen insists on bringing development sides to SA, Leinster had a brief spell in 2nd half on top, then the YC. But well-managed by Stormers, especially Mani's time wasting. Piardi awful for both teams tbf.
20 April 2024; Charlie Ngatai of Leinster, supported by teammate Scott Penny, is tackled by PJ Botha of Emirates Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Emirates Lions and Leinster at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
That was embarrassing. Performance was naive and inaccurate. Some of that is on the young lads not performing individually, but I think a major part is some of the older lads we’d hope to step up and lead in those circumstances failed to do so.
Greg Kelly
We were playing touch rugby in defence. If you are one of the teams fighting for 4th-8th you’d be excused for asking why Leinster don’t serve up 5 points away to you too?🤷♂️ We started dreadfully and then when we found a rythem we were woefully inaccurate.
Getting beaten like that is acceptable if we can walk away with silverware at the end. If not then questions need to be asked.
Éamonn Rogers
Honestly it was a game with little at stake played at 1700m (for context nearly 700m higher than Carrountoohil) I’d see it as nothing more than a blooding exercise/fixture we are obliged to fulfil. The stats show that there were a lot of positive elements. We (thankfully) don’t have the luxury of sending our primary team down like our southern cousins. Overall I’d say we could have done better but not the end of the world
Kevin Kelehan
A lot of players will be very disappointed with their performance, got the chance to shine and made unforced errors, hopefully a big improvement next week.
William Andrew
Looked like an unfocused Leinster. Distracted by the hype of this last week, etc etc. Everyone who has ever played knows you have to be dialed in 100% or you will struggle.
Lions were very sharp and handled the blitz defence with pace and good passing. Northampton are going to be all over this video.
A wake up call, last season we were great and not great for about the last three minutes in two games. 😢
A bad, bad day at the office for the boys in blue.
Lions were great value for the win after a flyer of a start. Making a great fist of the run to the final 8.
Congrats @Ringo26, see you at Lansdowne Road next season, or maybe even in the knockouts…👀#LIOvLEI
Just not good enough at all from #leinster – some fantastic talent on the park but sloppy, second at breakdowns and inaccurate overall. Congrats #lions but Leinster have some hard internal chats ahead after that. #LIOvLEI
No polishing that turd!!! Credit to Lions very clinical. We pinched a couple of tries but never looked like putting a real dent in that bad start. Retreat, regroup, and come back strong in Cape Town.#LIOvLEI
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 