Indo Sport
Leinster dig deep - but flaws still there | Munster harshly treated | The Rugby Show
12 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an Irish Independent Podcast. Now welcome just when we bemoan this tournament that comes and gives us a weekend like we've just had. Lots to get through in the company of Rory O'Connor of the Irish Independent who was at the Aviva on Saturday. Rud, you're very welcome. Thank you, Joe. Eddie O'Sullivan with us too. Hey, Eddie. Hi, Joe. Our rugby coverage as ever with thanks to Energia.
They sponsor rugby in Ireland at all levels. Grassroots with the AIL and they are official energy partner to Leinster, Connacht and the Irish men's and women's teams and their Rugby for All initiative.
welcomes everyone of all abilities to participate in the game if you want to learn more about energy is exclusive home energy offer for rugby fans you can visit energy.ie forward slash rugby so um just some of the results to mention champions cup leinster 25 la rochelle 24 harry burn last kick of the game uh match winning penalty at the aviva stadium
It does mean, by the way, of the group stages, Leinster now 30 wins in a row in the group stages, which underlines an incredible consistency. Meanwhile, Sunday afternoon in the south of France, it was Toulon 27, Munster 25. Only 7-6 at halftime. That game came to life in the second half. And elsewhere worth mentioning. Saracens beat Toulouse 20 points to 14.
So Toulouse, should they make the group stages, will be very much on the road. So they've kind of scuppered their chances a touch. Meanwhile, we had a repeat of last year's final. Bordeaux put eight tries in Northampton, 50 points to 28. Very convincing, emphatic Bordeaux performance. And Challenge Cup...
Ulster had a 28-0 win over the Cheetahs because the pitch in Amsterdam was frozen and ultimately it is hosting clubs' responsibility to ensure the match can go ahead. So a very handy bonus point win for Ulster. Meanwhile, Connacht just kicking themselves, something not quite working here. They did lead by 17 points in the second half, but they lost to Montpellier 33-31.
Montpellier scored three tries in the final 15 minutes. So that's four defeats in all competitions in a row for Connacht. Lots to get through. Let's start with Leinster La Rochelle. Rory, you were there. This is the kind of pool match this tournament needed.
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Chapter 2: What were the highlights of Leinster's thrilling victory over La Rochelle?
It doesn't deserve it, this tournament. These two teams have really, not single-handedly because there's been other good games, but this rivalry and these games between these two teams have really just kind of kept this tournament's head above water in terms of quality and excitement. There was other good games over the weekend. It does get better after Christmas and
We're almost into knockouts now and people jostling for positions. So pretty much every team is sending their strongest side. And this weekend, there's proper things on the line in a lot of games. So the tournament existential crisis is kind of a December conversation and it just kind of gets better. Just as a standalone game, given what we watched over Christmas, how tough a watch November was.
It was really, I don't know, restorative or like it was just reminded you why you liked rugby in the first place. It was such a thrilling collision between two heavyweight teams, neither at their best. I think both teams have come off that peak that probably wasn't as high quality as it was.
was when they met in the finals a couple of years ago yet they were still able to find weaknesses in each other's armor there was a nice clash of styles there was a bit of personal beef you know will skelton was at the heart of everything and joe mccarthy was never far behind um like lavani body i didn't think he still had a performance like that in him and he rolls back the years he kind of emerged from lenzer's nightmares to kind of produce a performance in 2021 or 2022 and
And all comes down to that final kick. And we even have a bit of drama about who took it and that ongoing, never-ending conversation that we're having about who's the Ireland 10 and who's the Leinster 10. And you just came away from it going, yeah, there's a bit of life in this tournament yet and there's still a little bit of life in rugby yet as well. Yeah, just a reminder of the timeline.
Eddie Leinster, kind of a blitzkrieg first 10 minutes. They looked as good as they've looked all season, 12-0 up in no time. And then by the hour mark, La Rochelle were leading by five, 17 points to 12. And then when you kind of thought they were really under the cosh, Leinster hit back with two tries in four minutes, Henshaw and then van der Vleer.
And so with 10 minutes to go, Leinster lead by five. And then with three minutes to go, La Rochelle score a try. Le Garex down with cramp makes the conversion. And you think that's that. And then Harry Byrne. Yeah, I'd call it a real barn burner of a game. Start to finish. Momentum swinging as well. I mean, at the end of it, what I might take is that neither camp will be happy. Really happy.
I think Roger will be furious. Had Leinster. Had him done. That last try should have been it. They had the ball. They got the turnover. They had the ball. Then they... All they had to do was run the clock out and they knocked it on. And then the greatest sin of all for to knock on a ball, if you spill it, you have to kill it. And he spilled the ball. He didn't kill the ball.
Like a kind of, oh my God, I've knocked it on. And you could see Leinster got on it. And then it was an advantage, Leinster. He held on the ground penalty. And I'm going, this is, Leinster going to do this. What's the penalty? Because I knew they'd go to the corner. If they won the line out, it's just a question of either, you know, a drop goal or a penalty.
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Chapter 3: What concerns remain about Leinster's defensive performance?
And I think on a list of players you don't want to lose, Leo Cullen would have had those two in the top three, along with Thomas Clarkson, who won the winning penalty in the 81st minute or 82nd minute, having played CiarƔn. The entire game, a tight head prop under serious pressure and did really, really well.
They were able to arrest the momentum back from a position where they were... Sam Prendergast was playing a fullback and was left one-on-one with the Fijian-born centre... whose name I've been struggling with all weekend. So I'm looking it up. Danavuku. Danavuku. Amazing. A brilliant tackle.
And he follows it up by playing a huge role in a choke tackle on Penvern, the loose head prop, who I'd say is currently ducking down in the middle of a video review room because he was a fault for a few big moments for La Rochelle.
They go up the pitch, they punish a poor kick by Dylan Lades, and then two of the 32-year-olds who are currently being the topic of Leinster and Ireland are too old, manage to race up the right wing with unbelievable first acceleration, but also an ability to sustain their speed. Andy Farrell must have been on his feet watching that going, hang on a second, don't be writing these two off.
And then they lose it again and they come back and they're the ones who are calm in the moment. So I do think they deserve a lot of credit for that. And their scramble defense in general was very, very good. I mean, Farrell must have had his heart in his mouth watching Jemison Gibson Park.
corner flag repeatedly and throw his body on the line as the last gas defender over and over again I mean he's such an important player for Leinster and Ireland and here he is putting himself in danger Andrew Osborne who comes on for a fraudy and gets subbed off for Harry Byrne so it's not ideal for him a young player and he did have a couple of mistakes he made two incredibly important defensive interventions in the same phase of play so they have to take pride in that part of it
But then they have to also interrogate why they were scrambling in the first place. And they've invested so heavily in this defence under Jack Nienaber.
Why is it getting shredded repeatedly by a La Rochelle team that does have a lot of pace and has a scrum half who I thought was... He may replace Bottia long-term as one of your favourite players, Joe, because I thought he was brilliant in the Garrick. And he's just unfortunate that DuPont has a couple of years left in him. But his range of passing was every bit as good as Gibson Park.
He stretched Leinster. He made them think twice.
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Chapter 4: How did Munster's game against Toulon unfold?
So that's where a lot of the missed tackles are coming from is their line speed is insane. And that's part of the system. The second thing is they are on the verge of being offside all the time because they're trying to get off the line to shoot the space stone. So they're vulnerable to being caught for offside, which can lead to yellow cards for persistent infringement.
So you're in that territory every day of missing tackles giving away concessions and penalties, getting yellow carded.
Chapter 5: What were the controversial moments in the Munster vs Toulon match?
And then even some of those tackles, because they're so crazy, you can slip up and hit someone in the head. So you're in that area where you're high risk on D. And I think, you know, the last part of it, and that's all about the tackling and the line speed. And I still think that they have this
capacity to look very good when they can slow the ball down and part of slowing the ball down is hammering the rucks, every ruck is a brawl and again you're going to pick up penalties there because you fall to the wrong side. Their defence is so narrow, so driven, so one dimensional in its approach. is that it's vulnerable on a number of aspects.
Number one, getting broken with major line breaks, hard to recover from. And secondly, get yourself in disciplinary trouble. Now, just to want to tie one point in with that is that Rory's point about the injuries, and I take that 100% and a huge credit on overcoming that. When all the fresh guys come back, the defence isn't going to change. It's going to be the same defence.
Will they do it a bit better? maybe better guys on the field, more experienced guys, maybe. But we don't know that. The way you talk about that defence there seems to have a lot of cons. Yes, because it's an all or nothing D. It works. It's claustrophobic. If you get in front of a team with that and it works well on the day, it's very difficult to break down. No time on the ball.
You've got to be pristine in your passing. But when it starts to falter and slips, like the price you pay is catastrophic. There's major line breaks. I get the sense you'd rather be 8 out of 10 most days rather than 10 out of 10 and the odd day then a 2 out of 10. That's the problem with the Blitz. When it's 10 out of 10, it's impossible to break practically. I mean, teams have traded on it.
I mean, you know, South Africa have won World Cups on this. You know, teams couldn't be with it in the World Cup. But when it goes wrong, when it malfunctions, you see the price of it. And sometimes, sorry, the final point I'll make, the malfunction is that the other team are just very smart.
They know exactly where the flaw, the weakness is, and they pull the trigger at the right time and they do it well. And then... that system is cooked once you start throwing the right passes at the right time around the corner. I don't suspect Rory in our words for turning. No, no, absolutely not. Unfortunately, he's not doing media today. I was looking forward to it.
I thought he might be next up on the roster because I think it would be really interesting to see what he thought of it. But, like, they won a World... South Africa won a World Cup with three one-point wins. And, like, France did shred them in that quarterfinal game. But he had AndrƩ Pollard kicking everything that was going over. Did he play against France? I'm struggling to remember exactly.
But Pollard obviously comes in in the England game. But they... They have almost the perfect blend of incredible rugby players who also have the best athletic profile in the world with a bench of monstrous forwards who would get into pretty much any team in the world. So yes, the system worked, but he was playing with the best tools available. I'm not saying the Leinster players are mugs.
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