THEIR COACHING TEAM has been under the microscope since the game took place, but James Ryan insists the Leinster players have also ‘taken ownership’ in the wake of the province’s Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux Bégles.

Thanks in no small part to a ruthless opening half scoring blitz, Bordeaux secured a second successive European top-tier title with a 41-19 victory over the Irish province at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao on 23 May. In the aftermath of their fourth Champions Cup showpiece reversal in the space of five seasons, a lot of focus has been placed on those who are steering the Leinster ship, with head coach Leo Cullen and senior coach Jacques Nienaber both engaging in back-and-forths with members of the press in recent days.

Yet there were, of course, 23 players who crossed the white line in Bilbao for the province and Ryan felt it was important for the squad to show accountability following another crushing final loss.

“We have taken ownership as well. We were off Monday after the Champions Cup final and then we were back in Tuesday. We had a couple of days where we had a pretty honest, open review and then we had to turn the page pretty quickly,” Ryan remarked at a Leinster media briefing in UCD earlier this week.

“It is something we’ll revisit as well at the right time, but we were a little bit off in Bilbao and it’s just about making sure that we’re at our very best now this week to hopefully put ourselves in the opportunity to get into another final. It’s tough, it is tough, but you’ve just got to be accountable.”

Following a commanding last-eight win against the Lions in the venue last weekend, Leinster return to the Aviva Stadium this Saturday for a United Rugby Championship semi-final showdown against another South African side in the shape of the Stormers (kick-off 5.30pm).

If you go back to the very beginning of the current campaign, Leinster kick-started their URC title defence with a heavy 35-0 defeat at the hands of the Stormers in Cape Town. While Ryan and the rest of the province’s British & Irish Lions contingent didn’t feature, 10 of those who saw action in the Lions game took to the field for that chastening opening round loss.

Additionally, the likes of Tommy O’Brien, Ciarán Frawley, Jordan Larmour and Brian Deeny were all included in the starting line-up on that day and could well be in contention for the match day 23 this weekend.

Ryan revealed this game was spoken about within the Leinster set-up at the start of this week and with the Stormers consistently finding themselves in the knockout phase of the tournament (they were URC winners in 2022 and runners-up in 2023), he is anticipating another significant challenge from John Dobson’s men.

“It was our first game of the season, it was a bit of a wake-up call for us at the time. We touched on that this morning. They’re playing some good stuff. I think for us as a forward pack, it’s a huge game in terms of the set-piece. They’ve a very good lineout, a very good scrum. We’ve got to make sure we front up there.

“They’re a serious squad, even the guys that are coming back. Cheslin Kolbe will come back and Wilco Louw. They have serious depth there. They have a nice brand of rugby, they do like to play. I think defensively our connection is going to be massive this week.”

Although his namesake James Lowe understandably stole the headlines as he became Leinster’s all-time record try-scorer, Ryan did cross over himself in the Lions game. He touched down on two occasions in the following year’s Six Nations Championship for Ireland, but the most recent provincial try for the towering lock before last Saturday came against Gloucester in the pool stages of the Champions Cup on 16 December, 2022.

Only his fifth in the blue jersey, his score arrived at a time on Saturday when Leinster were temporarily reduced to 14 players. As well as being important for the side during a tricky period in the contest, it also proved to be quite profitable for a member of Ryan’s family.

“I was getting a good bit of mileage out of that. I was just saying, ‘I think that was the turning point in the game really, that try!’ My brother won 275 quid off me at the weekend. Now, he said I was only 10-1. Usually I’m much higher. That’s not bad, so after the try I’ll be 2-1,” Ryan added.

“People have stopped backing me, but I generally hear from one of my mates or something when they do back me because it’s always like someone is after winning 300 or 400 quid.”