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Irish Examiner
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Duncan Casey: Leinster 'victims of their own success'? Give me a break
When Northampton blindside Josh Kemeny was sin-binned for clattering Rabah Slimani into the jaw in the 67th minute on Saturday, I began writing the opening segment of this column in my head. 'Stupidity. Stupidity is what cost Northampton a spot in this year's Champions Cup final.' I was sure they had blown it. Leinster were in the ascendancy, had all the momentum and were now a man up with 12 minutes to go. This feeling was compounded when James Lowe dotted down in the corner two minutes later and even more so when, in an act of inexplicable silliness shortly thereafter, Juarno Augustus tackled Tommy O'Brien late on the wing to gift Leinster another penalty deep in Northampton territory. I rewrote the start of the column: 'Stupidity from Northampton's back row is what cost them a spot in this year's Champions Cup final.' Despite being gifted multiple opportunities to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a match that had seen them shell-shocked, outplayed and routinely sliced open in defence, Leinster simply could not get the job done. Every time they found the correct answer to the question Saints threw at them, they followed it up by getting the next one wrong. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Subscribe to access all of the Irish Examiner. Annual €120€60 Best value Monthly €10€4 / month Unlimited access. Subscriber content. Daily ePaper. Additional benefits.
The Irish Sun
04-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Rabah Slimani baffled by late referee's decision as Leinster crash out of Champions Cup in semi-final thriller
LEINSTER prop Rabah Slimani admitted there was confusion in the home dressing room after a potential match-winning try in the closing stages was chalked off. 2 Ross Byrne of Leinster touches the ball down on the try line in the last play of the game during the Champions Cup semi-final - but the score was ruled out by the officials 2 Rabah Slimani of Leinster admits that he was left baffled by the decision not to award the score But it wasn't without controversy after referee Pierre Brousset chose not to award the score after replacement Ross Byrne appeared to ground the ball in the corner. It is suspected that Byrne may have been penalised for playing the ball illegally off his legs, but no clear explanation was given through the officials' microphones. Leinster were instead awarded a penalty before Northampton's Alex Coles was shown a yellow card. And Leinster's Slimani was left baffled by the decision as he questioned Brousset's decision. read more on rugby The prop said: 'I don't know, I don't know. 'I don't understand the decision because if it's a penalty and a yellow card, I don't know why it's not a try but that's the ref's decision. "He has his opinion but it's hard.' The France international praised the team's effort but admitted the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. Most read in Rugby Union He added: 'We lost some focus in defence but we never stopped the effort during the second-half and we were very close at the end. It's very hard for the team but that's the reality. 'No, I could not feel that. Last year the semi-final against Northampton was very close and today too. Ronan O'Gara bizarrely ends press conference after 23 SECONDS amid La Rochelle's continued poor form "I think it's normal that we were a little bit nervous. We didn't make a good start, they scored a lot of points. We lost by three points, that's very disappointing.' And Slimani insisted that the Dublin-based side must bounce back. He concluded: 'The season is not finished and we have the opportunity to win something, the URC this year. "It's been a long time since Leinster won something and I think we need to stay focused on the URC now. It's not pressure, but now we have just one target. "We are disappointed not to make the Champions Cup final but now the target is the URC. We have had a very good season in the URC, we need to continue that.' Leinster face Zebre and Glasgow before the URC playoffs.
Irish Independent
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘I don't understand the decision' – Rabah Slimani laments controversial late call in Leinster's shock defeat
Leinster prop Rabah Slimani was baffled by the decision not to award Leinster what would have been a match-winning try at the end of their dramatic Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton at the Aviva Stadium.
Irish Daily Mirror
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Leinster star mystified by vital try decision at end of Champions Cup semi-final
Leinster's Rabah Slimani admitted there was bafflement in the shocked home dressing-room that a late try that would have won the game for his team was disallowed. Referee Pierre Brousset, who is France international Slimani's compatriot, decided not to award the try to Leinster replacement Ross Byrne the score in the corner. The veteran prop couldn't see why Brousset made the decision, with one suggestion being that Byrne was pinged for playing the ball off his legs although that's not what the officials announced on their live microphones as they ruled out a try - and a penalty try - for the hosts. Instead, a penalty was awarded to Leinster and Northampton's Alex Coles was yellow carded. 'I don't know, I don't know," said Slimani. "I don't understand the decision because if it's a penalty and a yellow card, I don't know why it's not a try but that's the ref's decision. He has his opinion but it's hard. 'We lost some focus in defence but we never stopped the effort during the second-half and we were very close at the end. It's very hard for the team but that's the reality.' The suggestion that nerves played a part in Leinster's latest downfall at the business end of European competition was dismissed by Slimani, who has signed a deal to stay on next year. 'No, I could not feel that," he said. "Last year the semi-final against Northampton was very close and today too. I think it's normal that we were a little bit nervous. We didn't make a good start, they scored a lot of points. We lost by three points, that's very disappointing.' Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has spoken of the need for his players to bounce back after this devastating defeat and to win the URC, thus ending a three-year wait for silverware. 'The season is not finished and we have the opportunity to win something, the URC this year," stressed Slimani. "It's been a long time since Leinster won something and I think we need to stay focused on the URC now.'It's not pressure, but now we have just one target. We are disappointed not to make the Champions Cup final but now the target is the URC. We have had a very good season in the URC, we need to continue that.'That's my first Champions Cup semi-final. It's disappointing. Last year I lost a Challenge Cup semi-final to Sharks like that. It's terrible because every guy did a good training week, they prepared well but we lost by just three points. I think that's worse.'
Irish Examiner
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Leo Cullen 'committed' to job of getting Leinster over the line after another agonising loss
Leo Cullen believes he remains the right man to lead Leinster to glory after the province's Champions Cup curse continued with a haunting semi-final loss to Northampton Saints in Dublin on Saturday evening. The four-time winners have hit the bar time and again in recent seasons. They have now lost four deciders, two semi-finals and a quarter-final since their last success in 2018 when they edged Racing 92 in a tense game at Athletic Bilbao's San Mames stadium. Add in the failure to claim a URC crown this last three seasons and many of the native are understandably restless with a team that is awash with top Ireland players and one buttressed this term by RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett and Rabah Slimani. There have been plenty of changes in the coaching staff, of playing personnel and even at the top administrative levels since Bilbao but Cullen has been a constant as head coach through all that time. It is only inevitable that questions are now being asked. 'Yeah, I think I am,' he said when asked if he was the person to get Leinster over the line again. 'Yeah. I believe that I am, yes. I think we've worked hard to try and improve the group year on year on year and I think the group is very strong right now. "As I said, that's not something that's just created last week, it's year on year and I think we've a stronger group now. "We've lost three finals over the last three years, yeah, but I believe we've a stronger group now than we've had and that's the way I will continue to approach the day to day in terms of preparing the short term, medium term, long term. 'So, yes. And I'm very committed to that as well.' Read More Saints alive as Leinster crash out of Champions Cup in semi-final epic There is no denying the depth of hurt this 37-34 defeat will generate. Cullen spoke of a loss that will 'stick the throats' for a long time. He used the word 'horrific' twice and admitted that the game will 'haunt' them for some time. His team captain Caelan Doris used the word gutted to sum it all up. As in previous years, they came agonisingly close to getting over the line with Ross Byrne having what would have been the winning try ruled out after a lengthy TMO review in the last minute of the game. The decision may have been that Byrne had illegally grounded the ball while off his feet but the question is why referee Pierre Brousset didn't then award a penalty try given Josh van der Flier had just been stripped illegally, in the act of scoring, by Alex Coles. Coles was even shown a yellow card for his act. A penalty try seemed to be a given. Instead, Leinster went and ran a tap and go from the penalty with Jack Conan just metres from the line and the clock approaching the red, coughed up the ball and their last chance of the win with it. Cullen neglected to offer an opinion on the non-penalty try decision, claiming he was concentrating on the next play at the time, but replacement prop Rabah Slimani admitted that the failure to award seven points to Leinster was puzzling. 'I don't know, I don't know,' said the French front row. 'I don't understand the decision because if it's a penalty and a yellow card I don't know why it's not a try, but that's the ref's decision. He has his opinion but it's hard.' Northampton's director of rugby Phil Dowson was asked for his take. 'The thing that was going through my head was that if they score here, it feels cruel. I know sport's cruel and I know sport's unfair, and that's the beauty of it, but to be leading - I think we led the whole game, I don't know. 'To have lost it in the last minute with a bobbled ball and a referee's decision. Was it a knock on? Did Colesy release? It's all very intricate and subjective, and the referee makes a decision there and if we'd lost that I would have been gutted for the players.' So many questions, so many talking points. Leinster could still have kicked for the posts in the last act, taken three points and reset for 20 minutes of extra-time. Cullen didn't have any issue with going for broke, backing his players to go with their gut when push came to shove. Ultimately, they didn't play well enough. A team that hadn't conceded a single score in 200 minutes of Champions Cup rugby prior to this leaked five tries despite having Jacques Nienaber, the most respected defensive mind in the game, sitting in their coaches' box. And, as good as Northampton were, and as impressive as players like Fin Smith, Henry Pollock and hat-trick hero Tommy Freeman were, this was still a side sitting seventh in a Premiership of debatable worth. 'There's definitely a strong feeling among our group that we haven't done ourselves fully justice,' said Cullen. 'What's the reason for that? That's the great mystery, isn't it? A couple of things weren't just quite accurate, we had a tonne of opportunities but just didn't quite deliver. 'But then you can get a little bit jittery. Saying all that, the last four or five minutes of the game, we're camped on their tryline and we just don't have the composure to get over the line. "That's the painful learning for us. There's nothing we can do about it.'
