toulon again!

[blaker]

Ceemec, yeah I'm happy to give flak when bad so credit is due for the good.
Our scrum was v good
Our line out was good as had bee flagged in advance

I'll give credit for an improved defensive effort. Yep, no problem

But what of the aimless kicking
What of the static deep passing shovelling ball
What of the drifty running
What of the 3rd or 4th example of our inability to execute a DG endgame

With a profound edge in the set piece, a solid defensive effort and a misfiring opponent we should win. Given athe quality of the oppo, not win well but win. The four points above cost us that game

The underlying quality is clearly there. Our pack is immense. I'm optimistic. I don't want to belittle the task involved in going away to Toulon, clearly this was a very big ask but toulon probably played as bad as they can - we left it behind

[Donny B.]

Agreed. There's no logic in blaming MOC for all the crapness and then saying he has nothing to do with it when we play well. That's the best coached we've looked all season. That's not to excuse everything that's gone before, but credit where credit's due today.

Still absolutely gutted we lost that.

If only it pissed rain every week!

[ceemec]

I don't really get people calling our attack muck. It was ugly as sin but it was exactly what we wanted to do. The wider backs didn't see the ball much and that was part of the plan.

So we went out to be utterly ineffective in attack?

Well, yes, we certainly succeeded in that, but when we had to chase the game we were utterly ill-equipped.

Are you genuinely calling that a victory for the coach?

Did I post that? We lost. It's a loss for all involved in Leinster. MOC can take some pride in today's showing given it was a big improvement but it's another defeat.

And there's a big difference between being ugly and being ineffective. World Cups have been won by playing ugly. Passing the ball out the line and making line breaks is not the only way to attack. We weren't very good but we were up against the best team in Europe. We didn't go out with the plan to play free flowing rugby. That was obvious after 15 minutes. It was also the way we scored our try by grinding out the penalties and going to touch for a maul when we were chasing the game. We then got possession on halfway with 3 minutes left and a real opportunity to get down there again before Reddan had another brain fart.

[simonokeeffe]

LRIP & Hugo are spot on about the yellow cards and Armitage not releasing, solid argument for Botha getting one just for persistent infringement

Except when they were down a man we went nowhere with the maul yet attempted it again and again and again

For me the greatest example of our backplay malaise was on about 70 minutes when we had a full backline but ball was shovelled at a 30 degree angle backwards by several players until we had brought ourselves 20 yards behind the gainline and had to kick

Use of the bench was very poor, Cronin yanked off too early, Reddan and Ryan come on far too late, same with Darcy

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Was I alone in thinking that it was acceptable to keep Mads on despite his errors right up until the split second he decided against running the ball or passing short and planted his feet to make that skip pass? Before he even threw it I knew Habana was in and I thought "oh yeah he really should have been taken off before now, that was coming".

Poor guy, he did an awful lot to get us to Marseilles in the first place and even in a performance with so many errors he still kicked us to extra time. Lots of things make me think he'll be stronger next season.

[brenno]

If we had a ROG on our team today, that game would have been closed out, Gopp and Mads don't have that sort of game management

[simonokeeffe]

Was I alone in thinking that it was acceptable to keep Mads on despite his errors right up until the split second he decided against running the ball or passing short and planted his feet to make that skip pass? Before he even threw it I knew Habana was in and I thought "oh yeah he really should have been taken off before now, that was coming".

Poor guy, he did an awful lot to get us to Marseilles in the first place and even in a performance with so many errors he still kicked us to extra time. Lots of things make me think he'll be stronger next season.

the problem is the backline is a fudge
our best centre combo were playing at 11 and 22

[Raydollard]

Toulon were there for the taking. We have a great squad of players but MOC requires us to play a chyte game which wrecks us. Gopperth is useless as an outhalf and will never get a backline moving.

[paddyor]

Was I alone in thinking that it was acceptable to keep Mads on despite his errors right up until the split second he decided against running the ball or passing short and planted his feet to make that skip pass? Before he even threw it I knew Habana was in and I thought "oh yeah he really should have been taken off before now, that was coming".

Poor guy, he did an awful lot to get us to Marseilles in the first place and even in a performance with so many errors he still kicked us to extra time. Lots of things make me think he'll be stronger next season.

He's our best kicker(still in line to be top points scorer in the comp this season). I was thinking it was a bad decision to take him off after we got the try as there was the possibility of a shoot out. We'd also lost McFadden at that stage too.

[neiliog93]

You pretty much can't attack wide against Toulon in poor conditions from your own galf because they come up so quickly (partly to cover their dodgy wide defence) and have so many unfit lumps who can just fold over the ball at the ruck and are impossible to move. That means that running the ball in your own half (with Halfpenny on the pitch) plays into their hands and gives them a very good chance of getting 3 points every time you try it.

And even more so with Wayne 'I love penalising the attacking team and give them about 0.7 seconds to clear players out before blowing for holding on' Barnes.

[simonokeeffe]

Cummiskeys 5 things we learned is enough to make you puke

"Plenty of, largely ignorant, comments have heaped the majority of Leinster problems on Matt O’Connor’s shoulders this season...This performance should be enough to quieten that rabble"

this section praising MOC then goes to on to give him an excuse of a problem of his own making

"The leadership void beneath Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney (Cian Healy and O’Brien were crocked until recently) was stark as D’Arcy and Shane Jennings were not being picked"

5 Defence: They fixed it. After a season of porous defending Leinster finally shored up the leakages against the second best team in Europe

[offshorerules]

I dread to think what sort of a draw we will get next year. Could be Toulon again x 2.

[COYBIB]

Assume we finish 5th, which isn't set in stone yet but is probably the most likely outcome, It could be a horror draw, chances are it will be, but last season Ospreys finished 5th and they got a pretty handy draw funnily enough! Considering the type of group you could expect from finishing 5th, they got Racing Metro, Northampton & Treviso. I'd snap your hand off for a group of that standard next season given our position at present.

[Toulon fan]

Mercenaries win.

Rugby equivalent of The Expendables

And just as boring to watch

Statler and Waldorf are here... Oh, and the bitter one, too.

[RoboProp]

Toulon Fan is like school in July

[COYBIB]

Regarding the game, delighted with how the team fronted up, for all the flak he's taken, Leo Cullen will be pleased to see such a dominant forward display, even with lineout and maul looking very good.

Caputo can be very pleased with how the scrum has progressed also. Although we are blessed with phenomenal front row talent, the scrum is looking at one of it's best levels I can recall in recent years. I was pretty peeved with his appointment, I stand corrected (said the man in the orthopedic shoes)

I wont go into it too much, but it was probably the best implementation of MOC ball we've seen to date and the game plan was discernable, even if I think most would agree it's a really negative plan. I think execution of what he's trying to get the players to do was probably better than it has been at all during his reign, but it just served to highlight how we had zero interest in keeping the ball at all and how much of our destiny is out of our own hands when the plan is executed perfectly, we're at the mercy of the referee and the ability of the opposition to break us down rather than dictating and controlling the game ourselves. In a nutshell, it's pretty much give you the ball in your own half and see if you can get out without conceding a penalty.

The pass Madigan threw I don't think anyone can blame him too much - at least he was trying to make things happen, even if it was a performance in general he'll want to forget - but he came into the game having slotted something like 16 converted attempts at goal in a row and without him we almost certainly wouldn't have beaten Bath in the quarter-final, so I hope he's not too hard on himself and I know the fans and media will cut him some slack too. He's a quality player in a weird scenario of the role he's being asked to play from 12 - but not one of his better days certainly.

The thing that will haunt me way more than that is the first missed drop goal towards the end of normal time. How have we not learnt the lessons of the past? I think this is the 3rd time, at least, this season the Jimmy Gopperth has missed a game winning drop goal in front of the posts. Having done the hard part of being level with Toulon after 78 minutes, and having field position inside the Toulon 22 in the dead centre of the pitch - HOW can we not finish from there?

First of all, keep plugging with pick and goes for 90 seconds - are we THAT scared of having the ball for more than two phases? It was the most simple finish imaginable - big carriers edging forward to gain an extra 3 or 4 yards over several phases, wait until the clock goes red, stack lads on the pillars of the ruck to stop runners going for the block, have the 10 set, send it back, clip it over. It's so simple. How can we not do it? Gopperth has shown he's not that good at drop goals umpteen times this season, why aren't we using Madigan or Kearney instead? And to not be able to capitalize on a man up for half of the entire extra time period.... it's a real sickener.

I think we are all so grateful that we got a performance because of what we've become accustomed to and the bottom of the barrel expectations many have adjusted to makes this a good day for most - we're officially back to moral victories will do territory - but without much imagination, zero penetration and pretty much solely through world class players upping their game and with a lot of elbow grease, we had that game in the palm of our hands and we blew it - Toulon couldn't have given us more opportunities to win the game, we just wouldn't take them.

I am pleased to see us restore a bit of pride in the jersey following the recent humiliations, but it's still very, very disappointing that we can't close out games.

[Eve]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys - more a call to arms than a preview but appropriate once in a blue moon. Left the stadium exhausted but proud - both of the players on the pitch and the supporters in the stand who roared them on fairly incessantly for 100 mins. Not going to claim for a minute that everything got fixed yesterday but I certainly felt more positive after than I have after some recent games where we won...

[Toulon fan]

Toulon Fan is like school in July

You're hurry to be in holidays, aren't you? Oh... Wait...

[olaf the fat]

Toulon Fan is like school in July

You're hurry to be in holidays, aren't you? Oh... Wait...

Been there, done that! Enjoy it while it lasts.
Enjoy London.

[fourthirtythree]

Toulon Fan is like school in July

You're hurry to be in holidays, aren't you? Oh... Wait...

Well done Toulon. As I keep saying your team are now the greatest team that European rugby has ever seen. Three finals in a row, three cups in a row maybe. You will I hope forgive me for not wishing you success in the final because nobody actually likes hegemony but a hegemon.

But congratulations and well done. It's an incredible achievement.