French media reaction
The Toulouse players took an introspective view in the wake of their Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium looking at their shortcomings rather than trying to outsource or ascribe blame. Players and coaches were gracious in defeat.
Hooker Peato Mauvaka told Midi Olympique that “we made too many stupid mistakes. We had said all week that we shouldn’t take any cards because they were going to take the opportunity to score points and here we are, we take 28 points in the space of two yellow cards. For that, we can only blame ourselves.”
It was a familiar refrain amongst the Toulouse players and also in the tone of the media coverage. Headings on the same website stated “Mola and Dupont refuse to blame Barnes’ arbitration,” another “Ramos and Neti at fault, Graou in hell: the Leinster-Toulouse barometer.”
In L’Equipe the headline on one piece stated, “Toulouse blown away by Leinster tornado,” while rugby writer Jean-Francois Pataraud highlighted the high profile contributions of Leinster players Jack Conan and Dan Sheehan in victory. Alex Bardot lamented that the score “looked like a cut and paste from last year’s semi-final.”
Sud Ouest proclaimed that “Stade Toulousain Falls at the Gates of the final against Leinster,” and in the main match report lamented: “Like last year at the same stage, Ugo Mola’s men were badly beaten by the Irish from Leinster (41-22) in Dublin and will not see the final. They may regret an indiscipline that cost them dearly.
“History repeats itself. The revengeful spirit of Ugo Mola’s players was not enough against the collective mastery of the Irish. The Rouge et Noir have their pet peeve, after 2019 and therefore after 2022 (a reference to European defeats to Leinster).”
Most tries scored
In a year in which Gonzaga claimed a first victory in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup three past pupils have been involved in a little sporting contest of their own, vying for primacy at the top of the roll of honour in terms most tries scored for Lansdowne in the Energia All-Ireland League.
Fullback Daniel McEvoy scored his 29th in Lansdowne’s colours against Ballynahinch in the final club match of the season to move one ahead of Ross McCarron who previously wore the 15 jersey for the club, but the player who leads the way is Matt Healy.
The 34-year-old former Connacht player, who won a single cap for Ireland against South Africa, retired from professional rugby at the end of last season and now owns and runs a coffee shop, My Little Flower, in Oughterard, Galway.
It’s the second time recently that Daniel McEvoy reached a notable milestone, having previously played alongside William, Andrew and Alex in a J2 match against Enniscorthy, reputedly the first occasion that four brothers played for Lansdowne in the same match in the club’s 150-year history.
Their late father, Donal, a great friend, started his rugby with the Wexford club and played for Lansdowne too; it was apposite that the first time the boys represented Lansdowne together as a quartet was in that particular match. Their mum Jill was on hand to watch her boys in action.
By the Numbers
8 - The Toulouse pack was almost 64kg heavier than their Leinster counterparts for Saturday’s European match but despite being 8kg per man lighter it was the home pack that came out on top claiming all five tries.
Word of Mouth
It was 28-0 (for Leinster) when it was 14 men against 15 and it was 22-13 when it was 15 against 15. If we had played 15 against 15 for the whole match it might have been different. Ramos’ error was severe, Neti’s was serious, and we paid the price for that
— Toulouse coach Ugo Mola
Big turning point
Dan Sheehan admitted that he didn’t overthink his moment of good fortune when the ball ricocheted into his hands off the head of Toulouse flanker Jack Willis in the build-up to the Leinster hooker’s try.
He explained that he took off as fast as he could but was aware that pursuers were right behind him: “I could feel him (Antoine Dupont) chomping at my heels a little bit. I was a little bit surprised; it was just an opportunistic moment and a big part of the game in the end, especially because we had that (Jimmy O’Brien) try chalked off.
“To go back and get one within a minute or two, that was a big turning point in the game, I think, so I’m delighted. I could see they were obviously set up to exit so they didn’t have any blind winger, so I thought I could see a bit of space for it. I didn’t know if I was going to make it, but I think it was the right opportunity to go down that way.
“We were good at times, poor at times, but I think the prep was great. The last two weeks, we had a good run into it. We focused a good bit on set-piece and making sure we nailed the big moments. There were a few moments there where we got the five-metre drive and got the points, which was nice.”
