In the Champions Cup final I stand fully behind my initial assessment that Leinster, in an epic game of small margins, were ultimately undone by their own trademark ill-discipline and bad habits at the breakdown. There was always going to come a day or a time when a referee took against their antics and frankly downright dangerous play and unhappily for them that proved to be the final quarter of a Champions Cup final.
It’s ironic. I thought they got away with murder against both Leicester and Toulouse and, if they had been refereed more harshly on those occasions, they might have mended their wicked ways. There is not, for example, the slightest doubt in my mind that Josh van der Flier should have got a yellow or even a red when he went flying into Rodrigue Neti at that caterpillar ruck in the second half against Toulouse. Instead Neti copped it.
Among other things, this is a massive wake up call to Ireland who also play fast and loose at the breakdown, more so than any major Test team I can think of. Ireland are more than good enough to win the World Cup this autumn but are they clever and humble enough to appreciate that a flaw in their make up has been identified? Referees will now be on their case at the breakdown. The genie is out of the bottle.
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