In 2022 it was the Boulevard Michelet in Marseille. Last year it was Lansdowne Road in Dublin. On Saturday evening it was the slightly grittier backdrop of Tottenham High Road, but the post-match pain on the faces of Leinster supporters was wearily familiar. Three points, one point, an extra-time defeat: the margins are desperately slim but the sense of deja vu is growing stronger.
Mix in Ireland's World Cup quarter-final defeat by the All Blacks and the so-near-yet-so-far pattern is impossible to ignore. Irish rugby still boasts plentiful talent but the uncomfortable losses are stacking up. As Leo Cullen, Leinster's director of rugby, acknowledged, not all the postmortems will be sympathetic."The lads are going to need to show a bit of character," he said. "You get a sense of what's coming... you lose another final and we've got to be able to deal with that." Toulouse are a great side and no club have the divine right to sew gold stars on their jerseys.
Leinster remain superior to many other wannabes. But what are their downcast followers meant to do? Shrug their shoulders and await another runners-up medal next year? Or wonder aloud if there might be any underlying reasons why this particular bunch of players continue to fall agonisingly short?
Denne historien er fra May 27, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra May 27, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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