Gerry Thornley

They bunched the Leinster defence and they left Hugo Keenan and Rico Ioane at the edge, very disconnected, and got around them.

And it was a set-piece try of a five-metre scrum.

And comfortable.

The winner scores it untouched.

So that wasn't a great moment for the Jacques-Ninambart defence.

And ultimately, you have to say, the Jacques-Ninambart defence did not have much imprint on this match.

Yeah.

It is, yeah.

That's what they thrive on.

I'm going to have to stop watching more Top 14.

I always thought it was a bit of a lumbering game.

I watched too much highlights packages, maybe not enough matches from beginning to end to appreciate it.

Particularly on the rare occasions when they have two fully stoked teams going at each other.

But the speed of their breakdown ball was just lightning quick.

As Caelan Dyer said in the press conference, it probably started as much with the collision work.

They are very powerful athletes, Bordeaux-Begla.

The gulf in power was greater last night, but I still thought there was a gulf in power today a bit as well.

I still thought Bordeaux-Begla carriers were just carrying the ball further through contact than Leinster players were.

I thought that the collision zone was a big part of where they won the game, and that in turn fed into the breakdown, and in turn made the breakdown ball so much quicker for Bordeaux-Begla, and in turn meant they were getting to the edges and stretching the Leinster events.

So it was all this kind of ripple effect, and it was a tough, tough time.