TOPS
A remake of the two previous Champions Cup finals, both won by Stade Rochelais, the poster of the day turned out to be less exciting and won by the visitors, more clinical and better physically. The Dubliners have a 7th consecutive victory in all competitions. This is a setback for the Maritimes, who wasted too much in the scoring zones, particularly on penalty kicks.
In the final moments of the game, the four-time European champions obtained a penalty in their camp, more than 60 meters from the poles. Ciarán Frawley, who came into play at the opening deserted since the retirement of Jonathan Sexton, took responsibility to try to add three points. And against all odds, the Sydney native ended the match with an extraordinary kick.
FLOPS
Three consecutive defeats. On the scale of a team like Leinster, that’s an eternity. In 2021, in an empty stadium, the Caravelle club created a feat by defeating the Dubliners in the semi-final (32-23). They did it again in the final the following season (24-21) then last year (27-26), at the Aviva Stadium moreover. The men of Ronan O’Gara, legendary Munsterman, had become the nemesis team of the Irish.
Jostled in the championship (only 9th, with five defeats in nine days), Ronan O’Gara’s men could have launched their season with this prestigious reception. Missed. And the background of the game, even if the torrential rain which fell on Marcel-Deflandre on Sunday can serve as an admissible excuse, is still as empty. The spectators will not have been able to witness the slightest major movement, apart from a breakthrough from Danty (77th). All other attempts were fruitless.
It has been two and a half years since the Maritimes last tasted defeat on the continental scene. To find traces of the last defeat, we have to go back to the final of the European Cup lost against Stade Toulousain (17-22), on May 22, 2021. Since then, Ronan O’Gara’s men had chained 16 victories in sharp.
Touched in their pride, the Irish quickly made their state of mind understood from the first minutes of play. By multiplying the provocations and small scuffles, they increased the pressure and perhaps destabilized the premises. To put an end to these groupings, the referee decided to issue two yellow cards, one for Danty and the other for McCarthy (12th). Just one minute before Larmour’s try where the presence of the three-quarter international center would have been valuable…