WITH LEINSTER’S PLACE in next month’s Heineken Champions Cup final now secured, attention turns to tomorrow’s meeting between La Rochelle and Exeter in Bordeaux.
The expectation is that Ronan O’Gara’s charges will have enough to see off the English side and set-up a repeat of last year’s decider in Marseille, a rematch the general rugby public would love to see, and one you imagine the Leinster squad would certainly relish.
“Whenever you think of it (last year) it seems like the one that got away a little bit,” says Jamison Gibson-Park.
“They were obviously very good on the day and probably deserved winners in the end.”
Leinster are desperate to go one step better this season, and in light of today’s dominant defeat of Toulouse in Dublin, they certainly look in a better place to finally land that elusive European title.
“A lot of individuals have come on a long way since this time last year,” Gibson-Park continues.
“Obviously it’s down to a lot of hard work but I think for sure, we are in a better place than we were last year.
Our game-plan has evolved in certain areas. We have obviously had Goody (Andrew Goodman, attach coach) come in, he has been pretty unreal in terms of our set-piece strike and things. Areas like that have certainly come on.
“The individual thing is pretty massive as well. The more we improve as individuals, the better we will be as a team.”
Toulouse felt the full brunt of that today as they shipped 41 points at Aviva Stadium. Typically, Gibson-Park was central to much of the province’s best work, the scrum-half keeping the tempo up as the visitors struggled to live with the speed of Leinster’s play.
“It was tough going. They’re obviously a great side who play a pretty attractive brand as well. It was different preparation.
“I think the first-half performance was pretty good. We were pretty patchy I think in the second-half, a little bit of that is down to the weather probably, it started to lash. But overall, it was pretty good.”
To deliver such a commanding team display without injured trio Johnny Sexton, James Lowe and Robbie Henshaw made the victory all the more impressive, with Gibson-Park’s half-back partner Ross Byrne having another fine outing at 10 in Sexton’s absence.
“Ross (Byrne) is great with the detail and he drives a lot of that during the week. It’s not just him, it’s right across the board.
“We have got an incredible group of leadership guys. They do an awesome job in terms of putting our plan together with the coaches. I’m not involved in that group so much, but for sure, I do my part in meetings and that kind of thing. It’s probably an area I’ve come on in.”
Toulouse centre Pita Ahki felt discipline was the difference between the two teams – Leinster scoring 28 points across the two 10-minute spells the visitors spent reduced to 14 men.
“Two yellow cards and a lot of penalties in the wrong areas and they capitalised in it. You give a team like Leinster that many penalties and the game is won.
“I’ve been involved in three semi-finals here in the Aviva and it’s the same result. Given the yellow cards… I felt there was a momentum change when we got the 50:22 but they came back and Leinster is a class side, they just take their opportunities well.
“They have a lot of class players. You look at the boys that came on for them. Charlie Ngatai is world class, Ross Byrne and Jordan Larmour. We know what they can do and they showed today whatever team they put out is going to be strong.”
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