
Share
31st May 2022
09:33pm BST

Referee Wayne Barnes during the Heineken Champions Cup Final match between Leinster and La Rochelle at Stade Velodrome in Marseille. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"This often seeps into a team, this level of expectation. Every dog in the street was expecting Leinster to win because they had these two- and three-second rucks, and all these expert opinions coming out of everywhere. And it may have been all very business-like in the Captain's Run, but there was no Plan B, out on the pitch. "These 80 minute games can often fly by very quickly, and there are a lot of stresses. And when you have stresses, something often gives. So you ask, what gave for Leinster? If you look back, they had an easy run-in [to the final]. Munster really emptied Toulouse, over 100 minutes, Leicester and Connacht were walks in the park. They got down to Marseille, and it wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but why wasn't it a walk in the park? "We all knew they'd try to slow down Jamison Gibson Park and tie down Tadhg Furlong in the scrum... and you throw in the Ronan O'Gara factor, where he sat there for two weeks looking at how to beat Leinster - slow them down and get a man over the ball. They did, and Leinster had no Plan B, so where was the leadership?"Costello felt La Rochelle opted to deny Leinster tries, or try-scoring chances, by being cynical. They flooded the midfield to try prevent the ball going wide. If Leinster make a line-break, or got momentum, the French side conceded a penalty - giving up three points, at worst, instead of a potential seven. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/1531704563446579200
"That's what happens, and so it was. There were stupid 50/50 calls that were penalties [to La Rochelle]. But that's what he does. "It's like he goes in at half-time, and someone says, 'Hey, Wayne, you're doing well but you need to even it up a little'. He's human, but that's what happens. There were a few stupid calls that went Leinster's way in the first half that went against them in the second."One big call that irked Leinster fans was on 73 minutes, with the four-time champions leading 21-17. Replacement tighthead Michael Ala'alatoa and Dan Sheehan forced the La Rochelle front row to pop up, right under the nose of Barnes, but play was allowed to go on. [caption id="attachment_262704" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Credit: BT Sport[/caption]
Leinster would eventually be penalised for an offside call, by Barnes. They would never really get out of their 22, as they had four penalty advantages to play out before Arthur Retiere got the game-winning try, five minutes later.
"We had a couple of great scrums which could have gone our way," Leinster captain Johnny Sexton would ruefully reflect.There was nothing glaring that lost Leinster the game, though. It was death by a thousand cuts, whistles, niggles, carries and plays. Some players did not bring their 'A' or 'B' games, the opposition were successfully cynical, Wayne Barnes gave, then tooketh away, Will Skelton and Gregory Alldritt were both immense, the heat affected Leinster more, and the La Rochelle support were inspiring to their team. There was the weight of expectation, too. In the cold light of day, that may have been the ultimate, deciding factor. WATCH THAT EPISODE HERE:
Explore more on these topics: