Champions Cup Final - Leinster v Racing

[blockhead]

Rewatching it, Ryan was even better than at first viewing and Leavy must have pushed him really close for MOTM, a couple of silly penalties probably disqualified him.

Iribaren kicked incredibly well but I wasn't that impressed with the rest of his game despite the trouser-wetting he was causing the Sky commentators and his influence ultimately waned. I'm still mystified by JS's decision to take the quick tap pen 10 metres from their line - although I think 'mystified' wasn't the word I used at the time.

Delighted for Isa, you knew he was never going to miss those pens at the end...and a special mention for Donnacha Ryan who gave away a couple of crucial penalties and managed to force his elbow into Dev's face on the floor late on. Cheerio!

Toner and Ryan smashed angry face all over the park.

[blockhead]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joFlnjfHh00

SKY Full match.
The last 15-20mins without commentary, just celebrations. Marvelous stuff!

[Twist]

Also worth pointing out Leinster's European record in the last 10 seasons:

4 Heineken/ Champions' Cups
1 Challenge Cup
3 Semi-Finals
1 Quarter Final
1 Group Exit

Pretty extraordinary considering that time also encompasses our 'slump'.

Looking at that list, it's striking that Nacewa was there for all the good days and missing on the bad days. Irreplaceable.


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[riocard911]

Post-match press conference with Leo, Johnny & Isa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmZZ2m_i8B0

[artaneboy]

Watching TG4 highlights last night, Barnes really did have a shocker. It was more what he didn't do. Tacklers not rolling away (especially by R92), lazy runners, side entry (both teams) and off the feet were just ignored by him. He needed his linesmen to tell him about the many neck rolls and less frequent offsides he pulled up. There was a definite knock on by us in that crucial turnover under our own posts and both sides got away with at least 2 forward passes. The penalty call at the lineout which gave them their first 3 points was a joke but was not as ridiculous as his failure to card Nakarawa for the deliberate knock on. It could be argued that whomever he penalised (Porter? Fardy?) for bringing down their maul before their final penalty goal dodged a card because of the leniency shown to Nakarawa.

Barnes has been much improved recently but yesterday was not one of his best performances although the ultimate result was probably not affected

I think the bad calls evened out, but at the most generous we could say that Racing deserved to be level on 80 min. I genuinenly think they'd emptied the tank in their magnifecent defence, and we'd have won extra time. It's why I was happy in the last minute when they were going for the drop instead of a try as I figured we'd win overall.

I agree with that analysis. Wasn’t actually urging the kick, but was confident we had their number in the event of it going over abs there being extra time.


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[Angelsea Angst]

Well done to the team and coaches. It really is an enormous achievement to win the Champions Cup and we should all enjoy the achievement.

[riocard911]

For anyone who want to watch it again, here you go: https://rugbylist.blogspot.de/p/120518- ... ng-92.html

[blockhead]

Love this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKawptUKqj8

[tingman]

Geez - jimmy lowe is a mad b$&%@#d

[Ruckedtobits]

Six days is a long time in sport and, at that remove, had I been offered a three point win to take our first European Cup final against a French team at a venue outside the British Isles, I would have gladly accepted.

Sitting with one of the Demented Moles at the game on Saturday, as the final whistle sounded, he roundly castigated referee Barnes whilst noting "we won, but we had to use Racing's Game Plan". The accuracy of his assessment was only evident when watching the post-match game interviews with Sexton, Leavy, Lancaster and Leo Cullen.

A week ago, I predicted:

Racing 92 are a very different challenge. Their Squad is older, more experienced, more cynical and more diverse in their range of skills...............

Tactically, it cannot be said that they have a particular style. They can, and do, play high-tempo rugby, just not for prolonged periods. Throughout this season, in almost every key game, they have scored their points in bursts - a couple of tries and converts in a 7-10 minute spell would be a typical contribution.....

When Munster played them in Thomand Park in October, conditions were windy, wet and miserable and only a 76th minute try allowed Racing to trouble the scoreboard. .........

The Racing 92 coaches are two very smart, old-school French coaches. Not for them the single tactical stroke of genius. Their signature is the sight of the opposition Head Coach scratching his head wondering how his team has conceded 10 or 14 points, within five or 7 minutes, whilst never appearing to be under pressure.

Yes, they have real pace out wide. Thomas had shown Munster and Ireland a clean pair of heels this season............But it is the ability of the players inside, backrows, half-backs and mid-field to create the opportunities that is the most striking feature of their attacking skill-set.

Their scrum is strong, but not impervious to pressure...... Their line-out, particularly defensively, can be brilliant. But Chat is not always perfect on his own throw and can be pressurised. He will miss the support of Club captain Szarzewski as they face the final quarter.

So, how can Leinster beat this Racing 92 team and can we win our fourth European trophy for the first time on the European mainland?

If we can keep the tempo high throughout the game, win the breakdown battle for possession, keep the penalty count low against us and use Toner, Ryan and Fardy to retain our possession out of touch, we will have the opportunity to win.....

I believe it will be a dog-fight, not a spectacle. Very few of this Racing team can believe they will have the opportunity to win a European Cup in the future (just have a look at how many dates of birth fall between 1981 & 1986). They know from their Saracens experience how hard it is to win this competition. For Leinster, there are only a few who know what it takes to get across the line for this trophy and none of them have failed to take every opportunity when they've reached this point.

The young men is this Leinster team may feel that this is their destiny. But Kearney, Nacewa, Healy and Sexton will convince them it requires a lot more than just turning up. A dog-fight, but a Leinster win.

It was every bit of the dog-fight I feared. Travers and Labit, despite the almost leathal blows they suffered at half-back, blunted the Leinster attack almost completely and created a contest where the vagaries of the referee's interpretation became more important than the statistical realities of the game of possession, position etc.

At the game it rarely felt like we were being beaten, or at least, that we were in danger of losing, but it always felt like we were being prevented from playing as we would have wished. Neither McGrath nor Sexton appeared capable of directing the game. On only two occasion did either Henshaw or Ringrose get the ball, without the immediate likely impact of a French tackler and only Nacewa was allowed the luxury of running at a French defender with ball in hand and some space as an option.

In the aeriel battle, Kearney collected possibly only two out of eight kicks for which he competed. Miniscule opponent Andrieu, timed his hip-nudges and defensive screening in a manner that GAA coaches across the country could readily copy.

Racing surged forward when they attacked. Hugely physical carrying by pods of their centres and back-row coupled with clear-outs by their abrasive front-five allowed scrum-half Iribarren to control their offensive tide in a manner that McGrath never managed.

In many ways, this Final was more Gallic than European, more Top14 than Heineken. It was our first such occasion against French opponents. Our first at a European mainland venue. Notwithstanding the miracle against Northampton, this was our toughest final and the one from which the players in our Squad will have learned most.

As for the referee. Few, if any, of his decisions were wrong. But, despite his regular verbal instructions, he never tried to introduce fluency into the contest. French players ended up on and over almost every breakdown. Five or more infringements were committed by Racing players in their 'RedZone' to prevent Leinster attacks progressing. The most blatant by Nagarawa, before half-time, should have been followed by a Yellow Card, rather than Barnes' weak excuse "You never had a clean line-break Jonny".

We won and thank goodness. We deserved to and credit to the suberb preparation and the depth of our Squad. But feel a tiny bit.of pity for our worthy opponents. They suffered losses of key players. They paid us the ultimate sporting tribute of setting out a Game Plan to stop us playing and they almost succeeded. Almost.

[blockhead]

Sean Cronin:

“The utterances I’d heard from the bookies all week were crazy,” said Sean Cronin “I don’t know what the spread was, 10 [points]? Come on! They’ve internationals all over their team.

“We knew that they were going to be in the game for 80 minutes. It’s so pleasing that we could get over the line. We played well and performed all year. If we’d lost today it would have been a killer for us.”

That's why the victory has greater importance than even the 4th star. This could set this young team up for another golden era.

[Oldschool]

RTB.
A lot of what you posted before and after the game is correct.
However the one thing that let us down was poor decision making, when not under pressure.
J10's tap was quite frankly an awful decision.
If he wasn't going to kick the points then kick to the corner and work them over, especially as we were into the last ten mins of the first half.
The missed kicks from the halfway, especially the second one, should have been put into touch and again work them over.
Also we weren't patient enough in the red zone. We needed to work them over more before going wide.
They were things we controlled and we let them off the hook by not doing what we had been doing all season.
Apart from the fact that we won, we were by far the better team.
Congrats to a magnificent team who showed they can knuckle down and dig out a result when the chips are down.
Champions, real Champions.

[mildlyinterested]

we underperformed and still won. Got to take that and be happy.

[Flash Gordon]

Sean Cronin:

“The utterances I’d heard from the bookies all week were crazy,” said Sean Cronin “I don’t know what the spread was, 10 [points]? Come on! They’ve internationals all over their team.

“We knew that they were going to be in the game for 80 minutes. It’s so pleasing that we could get over the line. We played well and performed all year. If we’d lost today it would have been a killer for us.”

That's why the victory has greater importance than even the 4th star. This could set this young team up for another golden era.

We have the talent but do we have the leadership? Isa is an unpluggable gap and J10 is not getting any younger. You feel that the likes of Ryan and Leavy could get there but still a way to go - Leavy's discipline in particular. Couple of stupid penalties on Saturday and the absolutely critical one he gave away last year vs ASM.

[OTT]

We have the talent but do we have the leadership? Isa is an unpluggable gap and J10 is not getting any younger. You feel that the likes of Ryan and Leavy could get there but still a way to go - Leavy's discipline in particular. Couple of stupid penalties on Saturday and the absolutely critical one he gave away last year vs ASM.

Funny you mention that (Leavy against ASM last year). After watching the game on Saturday I was thinking how ridiculous that decision was where poor RoRo could not break away from someone holding onto his foot and got a penalty for his troubles that cost us the game and Racing were allowed to mill guys out who were a few feet away from being part of rucks and Barnesey saw it as fair contests. It most be so hard for players when there is that level of inconsistency amongst the different 'elite' refs. Like it literally cost us that game last year.

[neiliog93]

Barnes played a big part in ruining the game as a spectacle at the weekend. I'm not trying to suggest he was necessarily worse for us than them (although the non-yellow card decisions are a bit baffling). The weather was obviously a big contributing factor too, but he just allowed them to consistently slow our ball down, and was incredibly tolerant of them being slow to roll away/flopping over the ball at the breakdown (often off their feet). The exact opposite of his performance in the Ireland-Wales game in 2015, when his unbelievably pedantic refereeing of the breakdown essentially handed Wales the game after 25 minutes.

[fourthirtythree]

We have the talent but do we have the leadership? Isa is an unpluggable gap and J10 is not getting any younger. You feel that the likes of Ryan and Leavy could get there but still a way to go - Leavy's discipline in particular. Couple of stupid penalties on Saturday and the absolutely critical one he gave away last year vs ASM.

Funny you mention that (Leavy against ASM last year). After watching the game on Saturday I was thinking how ridiculous that decision was where poor RoRo could not break away from someone holding onto his foot and got a penalty for his troubles that cost us the game and Racing were allowed to mill guys out who were a few feet away from being part of rucks and Barnesey saw it as fair contests. It most be so hard for players when there is that level of inconsistency amongst the different 'elite' refs. Like it literally cost us that game last year.

They targeted players unconnected to the rucks and then picked and drove through the gaps. Crazy stuff to be seeing at that level.

I thought Leavy gave one "stupid" penalty (pulling the ball into the ruck after it was out) but it was a cynical professional foul as it was out the back and only a Racing player had noticed it and he was away.

[the spoofer]

Missing the head high, no arms shoulder on Luke McGrath was the most glaring error made by the officiating team. Looked quite similar to SBW during last years Lions.

[ribs]

No Cheers when the attendance was announced was telling for ERC. No Cheers and quite a few boos for the officials when they collected their medals also. We did well to unstrangle ourselves and win that. Our defence on our own line twice when they had penalty advantage were the turning points in the game. A try for either side would have won it.

[Peg Leg]

We have the talent but do we have the leadership? Isa is an unpluggable gap and J10 is not getting any younger. You feel that the likes of Ryan and Leavy could get there but still a way to go - Leavy's discipline in particular. Couple of stupid penalties on Saturday and the absolutely critical one he gave away last year vs ASM.

Funny you mention that (Leavy against ASM last year). After watching the game on Saturday I was thinking how ridiculous that decision was where poor RoRo could not break away from someone holding onto his foot and got a penalty for his troubles that cost us the game and Racing were allowed to mill guys out who were a few feet away from being part of rucks and Barnesey saw it as fair contests. It most be so hard for players when there is that level of inconsistency amongst the different 'elite' refs. Like it literally cost us that game last year.

They targeted players unconnected to the rucks and then picked and drove through the gaps. Crazy stuff to be seeing at that level.

I thought Leavy gave one "stupid" penalty (pulling the ball into the ruck after it was out) but it was a cynical professional foul as it was out the back and only a Racing player had noticed it and he was away.

I'd say less stupid and more "one for the team". The likely mantra during the week was not to cough up turnover ball, thats where R92 are extremely dangerous. The real stupidity there was the lack of protection and numbers standing off in order to stay in the D line