Former Leinster player Bernard Jackman believes that it was a “big disappointment” for Leinster to not progress to the Champions Cup final following a 32-23 defeat away to La Rochelle.
Speaking to KCLR’s Sunday Scoreline immediately after the game, Jackman commended Ronan O’Gara and Jonno Gibbes for the work that they have done with the French side.
He said: “The best team clearly won the match. Fair play to La Rochelle. Jonno Gibbes and Ronan O’Gara had them so well prepared tactically and they attacked Leinster in their weak areas and Leinster looked out of ideas in the end.”
Jackman lamented Leinster’s inability to stem the La Rochelle tide.
“Leinster couldn’t find a way of unlocking that La Rochelle defence. Anything they tried offensively, La Rochelle had their number and Leinster once again struggled against a very physical team,” said Jackman.
One criticism of Leinster’s performance was their tendency to overuse the box kick throughout the course of the game. Jackman was critical of Leo Cullen’s side lack of tactical nous in France on Sunday.
“They didn’t get any change out of the box kicks. Leinster’s kick chase wasn’t as good as you like, and I think they needed a Plan B and a Plan C.
“I think Sexton was missed in that sense because he can influence the game even when he’s not on the ball and he would have managed the game a lot better.”
Listen back to the full interview below:
Listen back to our commentary of La Rochelle V Leinster here: