THE MOST FASCINATING rivalry in European club rugby took a new twist today, but La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara accepted his team had been second best after Leinster powered to victory in an enthralling Champions Cup quarter-final at Aviva Stadium.
Leo Cullen’s men led by 10 points at half time and put the foot down in the second period, outscoring the defending back-to-back European Champions 17-0 as they stormed to a seriously impressive 40-13 win.
It was a statement performance against a team who ended Leinster’s Champions Cup dreams in each of the last two finals and a 2021 semi-final.
O’Gara spent the moments after the final whistle out on the turf congratulating the Leinster players on a job well done, his disappointment in losing tempered by the dominant nature of Leinster’s performance.
“It’s easier to move on. If it’s a close one, you always have a lot more regrets but if you have a small bit of cop on, you could see that the dominant team was in blue,” O’Gara said.
“They were sharper to everything and they made it difficult for us and their rush defence worked well and in the first 70, I don’t think we won a breakdown penalty bar the kick-off that we took.
I said before the game in an interview that I think we could put a score on these or else we could take a score because that’s the fascinating thing about coaching my boys.
“They are a special bunch and they are capable of playing incredible rugby, but today, we didn’t hit our stride.
“There are probably a number of reasons for that but 40-13 sounds like a hammering, and it is a hammering, but at the same time, it’s only three tries against a Leinster team where you look how many opportunities we butchered as consolation scores, not as real scores, towards the end.
“I think, when it was in the 10-point zone, the game was always in doubt, but once it passed that, it’s too far-fetched to think you are going to be winning the game against a quality outfit.”
This time last week La Rochelle were 14,000km away in South Africa, but O’Gara didn’t want to use that demanding itinerary as reasoning for his team’s performance in Dublin – with the home side looking fitter and sharper throughout.
That would be using an excuse. Maybe with hindsight it may have been a factor, but the better team won. The better team won. And that’s what sport is about.
“I have been lucky enough to be here as a victorious coach, so when it doesn’t work for you, you can’t blame the ref, you can’t blame your own players, sometimes you just have to go ‘Well done to Leinster, they had a good plan, they executed it well and they kept us at arms length quite comfortably throughout the 80 minutes.’”
O’Gara highlighted Ryan Baird’s try early in the second half as the key moment in the game, and provided an update on La Rochelle scrum-half, who left the action on a stretcher following a collision in the lead-up to that score.
“I don’t think he lost consciousness but he put his head on the wrong side and was obviously wiped out. But he is up standing in the dressing room.
“If I recall, I think it could be his second serious belt in a short space of time, so his wellness is of huge importance. The first signs are that he didn’t lose consciousness. He rang his wife and I think he had a good conversation, but he is not fit to play rugby obviously.”
Leinster will now be favourites to go all the way and claim the trophy in London on 25 May.
“There will always be a challenge I think for whoever came out of this game because, all of a sudden now, they’ll [Leinster] be hot favourites but the air gets thinner as you go semi-final, final,” O’Gara said.
“Toulouse are quality. Leinster have always had their measure in this competition but the way they play the game will pose challenges. I see Harlequins had a big win as well.
“For me, it’s two teams with massive tradition left so it’s not a final for Leinster today, I wouldn’t think. There’s still 160 minutes of rugby for them. We would have liked to have had that.”
