Leinster V Stade Rochelais. Champions Cup Final. Sat May 20, 16:45. Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

Anyway, turning my focus to the game this weekend.

I hope that the very narrow loss on Saturday will not be damaging to Ireland, I hope the Leinster players have a great few weeks holiday to recharge (a grand slam was won which is a great achievement), wish Lancaster the best in his new endeavours (he has made a massive contribution to Irish rugby) and I especially wish James Ryan all the best in his recovery.

Also wishing ROG and the Irish cohort at LAR a good recovery from their hangover and for the rest of the season (and at the same time wishing ROG would be a little bit less of a dick on the non important stuff).

It was clearly a screenshot as the handle was mysteriously hidden. Looks like he took down the screenshot himself after trying to field questions of it's origin. Very suspect, as dubious as the tall tales on this thread.

I am a Munster fan. Was up for La Rochelle too. I am not vengeful or hate-filled or any of the other stupid nonsense you have stated - its just sport. Leinster are a rival club - I like seeing them lose - There are lots of people who feel the same, nothing whatsoever wrong with it and its certainly not small-minded or backward-thinking - only self-professed "progressive" knobs would think that.

That whatsapp group sounds like some shower of dicks.

It kind of is. Munster is in ireland. It isn’t in leinster.

I support Munster

I support Ireland

i dont support Leinster

I was cheering on La Rochelle on Saturday .

i dont hate Leinster players or supporters, if they’re your team, then they’re your team. I envy the Leinster setup but would never wish to be anything but a Munster man.

Leinster are still by far the best performing province in ireland. The others have to try to reach that level. Leinster lost two clutch matches in a row and the manner of both losses will hurt, one to their most bitter local rivals and the others to a french team , in 2 consecutive finals , by a single point.

if it happened to Munster, id be gutted as well. Don’t forget We’ve lost a couple of finals and semi finals as well.

ROG can be a bit of a dick sometimes , but so can anyone else, myself included.

also does anyone find it odd that leinster players in the buildup (and Heaslip pre match) were talking about the “5th star” rather than winning the match itself. ?

Suppose the final were LaRochelle vs Munster.

And suppose BOD were LaRochelle's head coach, and Mal O'Kelly were forwards coach and someone like a Kevin McLaughlin were in charge of their academy.

And suppose LaRochelle had a fella on the bench who was from Leinster and had been involved with the Leinster youth set up.

In that scenario - and be honest - how many Leinster fans are cheering for Munster?

Other fans supporting foreign teams is a storm in a tea cup - it is nothing to get annoyed by. I see it as a small club/province mentality and will admit to being guilty of it when Munster were dominating, though never crossed the line to actively supported another team against a province at a match - that's just weird to me. Those feelings went away after years of Leinster beatings as Munster being poor is bad for Ireland. People are allowed to wear whatever jersey they want to finals but need to be aware in advance of the actions of others wearing the same jersey as them who act the maggot can leave you painted with the same brush and a reaction that you do not deserve. It isn't right but it is human nature.

On ROG, he has the mentality of many top level sportsmen, always searching to add a chip to the shoulder of himself and his players. At times his comments boarder on deranged and pure classlessness but winners write history and as long as he is being successful then very few will complain about it. He has won the last two HC by the very tiniest of margins, could very easily be a three time in a row final loser, so while his talent and luck keep going that way there is no reason for him to adjust.

As for those tiny margins, like last year there is a laundry list of tiny things that could have changed in that match and Leinster would have won, slight better decisions - like while camped on the line; slight better injury luck - Sexton playing as Byrne struggled or Ryan staying on or Furlong or Lowe being fully fit; slight better execution - Byrne getting those conversions or all the poor clearance or handling errors; or slight better ref luck - these have been done to death.

It hurts but it is what top tier sport is all about, two quite evenly matched teams where the smallest thing, that might be completely out of their control, make one an all conquering champion and the other seen as a loser.

Will probably leave the next steps for Leinster for that thread but they don't have the easy option that ROG and other non-Irish teams have to bankroll in guys to take them to the next level. Probably need to keep with their process and eventually they'll get their reward again.

Bizarre match on a partial rewatch. Leinster were absolutely phenomenal for the first 30, they scored fantastic tries and then defended superbly as LAR came back at them. They just wilted badly in the mental stakes once LaR hit their stride and couldn’t stay with them. You can blame the ref if you like but that’s largely irrelevant. LaR were in incredible condition and form and they showed great resilience and toughness to take that early hammering, settle Leinster down and then grind out the win. I was very disappointed with some of Leinster’s uncharacteristic mistakes but they mostly come back to LaR having their number and having a crystal clear game plan to bring Leinster into the doubt and pain arena. Most worrying for me was that no one of Leinster’s team stood up to rebalance during the second half. Ringrose, Henshaw, porter, Conan, Doris, VDF, even RB, they’ve all been here before and are hugely experienced players who’ve been n plenty of matches where the stakes were as big or bigger and yet they seemed to let it pass them by.

leo and Lancaster too, not sure what they thought was going to happen in the last 20 given how the half backs were going. Very naive to not see a rerun of last year at that stage.

as for all the provincial boredom. Jaysus.

Sorry but 'this isn't Soccer'

‘Twas the ref wot did it.

Honestly reckon you haven’t got a clue. There’s seagulls then there’s ostriches.

Any team who blames losses on external factors is not winning anything on a consistent basis.

Thought Peyper was fine myself. I’d start by looking at the Leinster second row who were utterly anonymous once Ryan went off. Porter with his scrum weakness. Lowe with his dud kicks. And so on

ROG has been banned repeatedly for going after refs and he has won back to back European Cups. Do you not consider that consistent winning?

He really needs to calm it down

Good analysis and Matt Williams usually don't go hand in hand.

He must be very cheap to say he's still in work on Irish media