Two matches. Two Cups. Two minutes to create a new post.
Tonight 20:00 on BT Sport 1: Lyon v Toulon for the Little Cup.
Tomorrow 16:45 on Channel Four or BT Sport 2, Leinster v La Rochelle for the Big Cup.
150 thoughts on “2022 European Cup Finals”
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Ovally Balls 
Was that a Lancaster side bottling it on the crucial game? Whodathunk?
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Once again a team with a big pack prove to be kryptonite for Leinster.
At 18-10, you’d have expected Leinster to see it home – certainly shot themselves in the foot for La Rochelle’s 2nd try. They had 2 or 3 chances to clear – and even then might have stopped the maul, but threw up 2 pods in the lineout from the penalty and basically the LaR maul walked over.
LaR were smart – kept throwing up shooters to stop Leinster going wide, and basically got away with it.
But, there’s no arguing with 3 tries to none. I don’t think they bottled it – but there’s a reason Leinster have signed Jason Jenkins from Munster and are making a hullaballoo about McCarthy – they don’t have a THL up to the standard. Ryan has been converted to THL, and from looking like the next best thing – now looks fairly prosaic (those 2 things may not be related, necessarily)
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Finally watched the game last night, unfortunately knowing he result. So I didn’t suffer during the last 10 minutes .
What strikes me is how bereft of ideas Leinster seemed to be. As soon as LaR nullified their threat by slowing the ball at the rucks, Leinster had no answer. They are wonderful to watch with fast ball and perfectly rehearsed moves, such as vs Toulouse, but don’t seem to have worked on a plan B.
On the other hand, I knew about LaR power but I didn’t expect them to be so patient and so precise during the final siege. Let’s not forget they played most of that part with 14 men vs 15. And it didn’t show. For all the talk about LaR big fat unfit forwards, it seems it was Leinster that couldn’t take the heat, both litterally and figuratively. Good game.
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“At 18-10, you’d have expected Leinster to see it home – certainly shot themselves in the foot for La Rochelle’s 2nd try. ”
They did, but were a bit unlucky with the two bad (for them) bounces that got them into that position i.e. the kick into the in-goal area that led to them having to drop out and then the drop goal attempt that left them having to (and failing to) clear. I reckon they would probably have won the game if the former had gone dead without bouncing up into the Leinster player’s shin.
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I wouldn’t say they bottled it either, think they were close enough to winning without playing well against a good team to not go down that line.
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I don’t think they bottled it either, but they obviously thought they could keep LaR at bay by simply kicking penalties. They seemed a bit too risk averse to me, especially when LaR went one man down. Instead of going for the jugular, they let LaR believe they still could make it . That’s a bigger mistake than a knock on or a missed clearance.
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The other thing that was a big surprise was that West kicked all his goals, guess we should acknowledge that as it didn’t look likely to anyone who saw the semi-final.
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<blockquote<don’t seem to have worked on a plan B
There have been a few matches – and they were few – when they seemed to lose their way. Vs Dragons early on in URC – final score was 7-6, IIRC – Leinster got a try in 1st 5 mins but the deluge didn’t come. Dragons probably should have won . Wasn’t the full Leinster 1st XV, but as they all play the same way it showed that they can be stopped. Same in the 1st leg vs Connacht in round of 16 – which O’Gara alluded to.
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Seems a streaky kicker – I think he scored 22 out of 32 points in the LaR vs Leinster SF last year – but I recall he was hideous vs Sale in the QF
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trisk,
He started out there when he first got in the Irish team so the conversion was some time ago. I’d say it was more down to the injuries he’s had over the years.
I was impressed how La Rochelle went after the line out and surprised by how poorly the Leinster line out went. With Cronin you expect a bit of hit and miss but Kelleher and Sheehan always seemed to me a step up.
cmw, that’s right about the ball coming off Jimmy O’Brien’s knee. The crowd reaction to that was weird as it was a far far better outcome for La Rochelle than the ball going dead untouched. As if they didn’t know the rules.
flair, I was amazed that Retiere waited so long before making his move as he seems a very impetuous half back. He got a bit lucky that his slip put Ringrose off balance but took the try well in the end.
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I learned today that the man who saved the British sausage, Bill O’Hagan, was the son of former Springbok forward Ebbo Bastard. He was born William Bastard but changed his name after his father was murdered by Bill’s mum’s ex-husband.
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“He was said to have fled South Africa in 1970 after a run-in with the police over sausages seasoned with marijuana.”
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Tomp, Retiere is actually a wing. He sometimes deputize as SH and he’s good at it but he’s basically a utility back who had to play SH last Saturday as LaR had noone beyond young Barjon and injured Kerr Barlow. You’re right, most SH would’ve tried to score earlier.
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TomP – looked at Bastard’s Wiki entry and it’s quite funny how the commentators in Australia wouldn’t say his surname, calling him Jardine, Smith or ‘the player who’s name we won’t say’. A couple of amusing run-ins with the local constabulary as well.
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Back in the day it was never not funny whenever Bill McClaren called Jean Condom by his name and not “the big French second row”.
It was less funny when Nigel Starmer-Smith did it.
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“The crowd reaction to that was weird as it was a far far better outcome for La Rochelle than the ball going dead untouched. As if they didn’t know the rules.”
The C4 commentary team were not brilliant on this, but I suppose we should be impressed they got it sorted out before the crowd did. They were worse at the end when they didn’t understand that the game wouldn’t restart after the conversion, it’s not as if there haven’t been other recent high profile instances of this, Wales-Italy springing immediately to mind. For what it’s worth I think I’d change the rule and either give less time for the kick or make it that if a try is scored before the clock goes red then there will be a restart no matter how long the kick takes.
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60 seconds is more than enough time to take a conversion and should be rigorously enforced to stop time wasting, but if the try is scored with less than 60 seconds on the clock, then fair play. Still haven’t seen the match, but I feel LaR were worthy winners.
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@Deebee – It was all within the rules so absolutely fine, but the rule is 90 seconds which is pretty much what they used (as did Italy I think).
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CMW, 90 seconds is the rule, but you really have to arse about to take 90 seconds for a kick at the posts. And if your try scorer has lobbed the ball into the crowd, that’s your problem. I would change the rule to allowing the defence to charge after 60 seconds, ready or not. Get on with it – you’d see kickers iron out all those quirks and idiosyncracies quite quickly if the likes of St Maro was suddenly bearing down on them ready to swoop on the ball and flatten them on his way upfield!
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And can you imagine how much fun it would be for teh crowd to do a countdown rather than a Mexican wave? On second thoughts…
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flair, yes, I remembered him on the wing. Can’t remember if I watched the semi-final on Irish or Brit telly but they mentioned he’d moved, or been moved, to scrum half this season. He looked a bit skittish in the final moments of the earlier game. The new half back did ok for La Rochelle.
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Not sure why there should be a difference in time allowed for conversion and penalty, and while we’re at it – while there’s moaning about time taken by reset scrums, lineouts are more frequent and probably consume more time in total as the forwards stroll up from where they were standing when the ball went into touch and the LH whispers sweet nothings in the hooker’s ear….
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No reason for a penalty to take 90 seconds either. I think I’m probably just against any rule that encourages anyone to deliberately take far longer than they need to restart play and this is obviously the case with the 90 second thing at the end of a game. Would probably change the situation with penalties as well so that the game would have to restart if the penalty was awarded before the clock was dead. All teams would be being asked to do would be to catch a kick-off or win their own lineout ball further up the field than where they got the pen.
All this in the name of fairness obviously, more than happy should Wales ever be a point ahead against NZ for Dan Biggar to stand around doing nothing for a minute and a half…
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Tom Wood retires at the end of the season. His best performance in an England shirt was against the Ballsax in 2012. Any time their forwards went fir a jackal they got smashed out of the way by Tom.
Almost as glorious as the Splashdown in that game.
Almost.
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All this in the name of fairness obviously, more than happy should Wales ever be a point ahead against NZ for Dan Biggar to stand around doing nothing for a minute and a half…
Can probably see this happening after about 10 mins into the first half when NZ fail to convert their try and Wales get their second penalty.
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@Craigs – Believe it or not we were ahead at half-time in one of the tests on our last tour there (and I think level in another). Not so good after that though. I don’t see the (slim) chances of us beating them at the moment as being lower than they generally have been as how good NZ are is probably the more important half of the equation.
Of course Dan wouldn’t actually stand around doing nothing as he wound down the clock to a famous victory. There would still be something to complain about.
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There was the 2014 game when we were winning with about 10 minutes left and still lost by 18.
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@TomP – That’s the sort of thing that makes me think a not so good but inconsistent Wales team have a better chance against a below average NZ than a good Wales team do against a good NZ team.
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2004 we were close as well but I have very sketchy memories of that match because I was shrooming in a Chinese restaurant in Nottingham and the telly was somewhere over there on the wall and it was amazing, just hanging there.
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Faf leaves Sale for Japan, Rafa slays Novax, and there is Test cricket at Lords on Thursday! Hurrah! England have shuffled things up a bit after their dismal tour of the Windies and brought in a couple of no-nonsense tyros in the bowling attack: Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Two players to watch, mark my words!
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Anf of course the real news of the week is Greggs giving away free sausage rolls to celebrate the Jubilee.
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Saw that. You only get it if you spend a tenner, mind. I did enjoy a cheese and onion bake from Greggs last week in Belfast. One of the great differences on this divided island is the Nordies get Greggs while down here we don’t. It’s just one of the many things blocking a united Ireland. Would the people of the North want to join a country like that?
This is a real foot-stomper:
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While this is just fucking terrifying:
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Am desperately trying to avoid anything to do with the Jubilee. Naturally, the businesses on the High Street are going all in. I appreciate the extra holiday but can we become a grown up country and cut them loose please?
The Royal Family is just a PR firm at this point filled with reanimated corpses, peados and narcissists.
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Tomp – that 2004 match was good. I watched it with my bro and dad. I vaguely remember the latter said ‘poor Wales’ and seemed to mean it afterwards. Me and my bro knew better than that.
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I approve of this:
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Craigs – we are being subjected to a street party tomorrow. I plan to play God Save The Queen really loudly.
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@Deebee – “England have shuffled things up a bit after their dismal tour of the Windies and brought in a couple of no-nonsense tyros in the bowling attack: Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Two players to watch, mark my words!”
And Matty Potts apparently who just might take more wickets than either of them. Broad and Anderson have not been tearing up any trees in the County Championship so hopefully they’ve just been getting themselves ready for the tests. The big disappointment is that England are going to leave out Harry Brook who has been batting unbelievably well for Yorkshire, scoring 840 runs at 140 and at a rate about half as quick again as almost anyone else in the games he’s played in. Just now he looks far too good for the Championship, but it’s obviously important not to take advantage of that sort of form.
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Thaum – That is a genuinely fantastic song still.
I’m definitely dusting down my leather trousers and am going to sneer ‘I mean it Maaaaaaaammmm!’ to every dim witted fucker waving a Union Jack.
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Cmw – he’s probably from the wrong family though.
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Going into That London for a job interview today. Haven’t been in for a while so I’m looking forward to it. Might even go to Pret for auld times sake.
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Just bought a non pret coffee which has burnt the entire inside of my mouth, tongue and a good deal of my throat. Will have to power through the pain.
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@CMW – England actually have a very good pool of fast bowlers at the moment, but the attrition rate is appalling. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Fisher, Olly Stone, Ollie Robinson, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes all out at the moment according to the article below.
https://inews.co.uk/sport/cricket/england-cricket-injury-list-test-bowlers-injured-jofra-archer-ruled-out-season-1638598
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Just bought a non pret coffee which has burnt the entire inside of my mouth, tongue and a good deal of my throat.
Didn’t you read the warning about the contents being hot? ALWAYS read the warnings.
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@Deebee – Not all of them are very good test match bowlers. Archer probably could have been, Woakes is at home but not away and Robinson made a good start. As most of the currently injured bowlers are injured most of the time I can see a time in the not too distant future when the attack will be really weak. Need to hope that some untried ones turn out to have what it takes and perhaps one of those will be Potts.
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CMW, agreed they’re not all top-drawer, but to have all of them crocked at the same time is less than perfect! I really feel for Archer, who looked like he could have been the real deal and the new spearhead of England’s attack – a combination of him and Wood, both fit and firing would have been quite a sight to see (unless you’re 22 yards away with a stick in your mitts) and would have created quite a stir in the game. Imagine Archer, Wood, Mahmood and Stokes as a fit and firing foursome? Heady stuff!
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I have no intention at all of taking part in any Jubilee ceremony or anything like that. However some people who I like are planning street parties and related stuff and I hope they have a great time. Just not for me.
However I must congratulate the organisers of the Essex County Cricket youth programme who have arranged an u9s training session between 11am and 5pm tomorrow. Which means I can avoid anything Jubilee-like by standing all day in a cricket field at the rather posh Felsted School. Well done.
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OT, you should rob the armoury at Felsted as a Jubilee tribute to the IRA.
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Virtue signalling.
There are much reasons to get rid of them than the desire to feel “a grown up country”.
Hard agree. Now the best racists and alcoholics are dead some of the pizzaz has gone out of the whole thing. Those guys and gals were box office.
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Ha! I can’t spell pizzazz. Pizzaz are that Italian grub for 7z playerz.
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