Leinster 34; Northampton 37
Leo Cullen put up a great defense of his Leinster side following this shock defeat on home soil - had his charges performed anywhere near to the height of the verbals from their Head Coach, they may have qualified for the final instead of exiting at this semi-final stage of the Champions Cup against Northampton Saints.
So four years of near misses now goes on for at least another year as Leinster’s defensive line was easily beaten for five tries in the course of a shock afternoon’s rugby.
When he looks back, Cullen will redmark the first half, particularly when their opponents had a man sin-binned as the key period in which they allowed Northampton to establish a 27-15 lead.
Where was Jacques Nienaber’s famed defense plan which had failed to be breached in the previous two rounds? This time around, the Saints counter-attack proved too swift as they punched holes at will in the Leinster wall.
The Blues will now go all out for a consolation prize via the URC but even if that is achieved, it will fail to mask a season of ifs and buts once again.
And with talk of a new man at the helm, including Ronan O’Gara being mentioned as a stepping stone to the Ireland job, Cullen stood up and defiantly declared that he was still the man for the job.
“I think I am. We've lost three finals over the last three years, yeah, but I believe we've a stronger group now than we've had and that's the way I will continue to approach the day to day in terms of preparing the short term, medium term, long term. And I'm very committed to that as well.”
His decision to omit Jordie Barrett from the starting line-up was something that backfired although the Head Coach said it was the Kiwi’s impact off the bench which got Leinster so close to winning in the end.
“I will look back on lots of different things over the course of the next few weeks. And, yes, when you don't win a game, particularly in a semi-final, everyone is going to second-guess everything.
“Listen, Jordie brought a huge impact, and that is what we wanted from him. Similar to Jack Conan, as well, and a lot of other players that were on the bench.
"You look at us at the end of the game - we looked like a strong team, attacking the game. There's probably bits before where we weren't quite accurate enough. But I don't have regrets about that plan, specifically,” he declared.
Leinster's European hopes are over for another year while the Saints now play Bordeaux-Begles in the final - the English club’s first appearance at this stage in 14 years.
Leinster: H Keenan; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; C Healy, D Sheehan, T Furlong; RG Snyman, J McCarthy; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt) Replacements: R Kelleher, A Porter, R Slimani, R Baird, J Conan, L McGrath, R Byrne, J Barrett.
Scorers: Northampton Tries: Freeman (3), Pollock, Ramm Cons: Smith (3) Pens: Smith (2) Leinster Tries: O’Brien, Van der Flier (2), Doris, Lowe Cons: Prendergast (3) Pens: Prendergast.
