\u201cAs it transpires, Bayonne are already out of contention, but this remains an attractive and significant game in Leinster\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBayonne\u2019s lack of tangible reward should enhance Leinster\u2019s prospects of a 30th consecutive pool win and favourable passage in the knock-out stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut history shows us to beware a French side swinging from the hip against celebrated opposition in front of their fans. And, though beaten by Stormers here in round one, this is regarded as the ultimate fortress in French rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n
[\u00a0Leinster can get valuable win if they conquer French rugby\u2019s ultimate fortressOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n More on the defence from Nathan Johns, who writes that a fascinating dynamic is at work under Jacques Nienaber in the province\u2019s Champions Cup campaign as more and more opponents find ways to exploit Leinster\u2019s imperfections.<\/p>\n [\u00a0The Jacques Nienaber conundrum: What\u2019s going on with Leinster\u2019s defence?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Matt Williams critiques Leinster\u2019s defence today in his column, writing \u201cIf Leinster<\/a> are to win the URC or the Champions Cup, they need to have some deeply honest and open discussions about the frailties of their defensive system because defence wins championships.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are three main scenarios that defensive systems have to deal with. The first two are when the number of attacking players and defenders are equal. The second is when there are more defenders than attackers. Leinster\u2019s system is coping with both of these scenarios.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Leinster\u2019s rushing defence is faced with more attackers than defenders, then the system is deeply vulnerable to failure. Last weekend, when La Rochelle had superior attacking numbers, it was their inability to quickly transfer the ball to the flanks, where Leinster are leaving huge tracks of space, that cost them the game.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat should deeply worry Leinster is that Toulouse, Bordeaux, Bath and Northampton all have players with exceptional catching and passing skills that can exploit these spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more from Williams:<\/p>\n [\u00a0Matt Williams: If Leinster can fix one glaring defensive flaw, they will be unstoppableOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to live coverage of Leinster against Bayonne, in the final round of the Champions Cup<\/a> pool stage. Kick-off at Stade Jean Dauger is at 3.15pm. Leinster<\/a> are in a strong position in their pool after three wins from three, and can guarantee top spot with a win against the French opposition. They will have one eye on the top seeding though as well, given to the top two teams with the most points in the pool stage, as it would ensure home advantage all the way to the Champions Cup final. Still some business to be done here though first before thinking ahead. Here are the teams:<\/p>\n Leinster: J O\u2019Brien; T O\u2019Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Kenny; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; J Boyle, R Kelleher, T Furlong; RG Snyman, J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt). Replacements: D Sheehan, J Cahir, T Clarkson, J McCarthy, S Penny, L McGrath, S Prendergast, R Ioane.<\/p>\n Bayonne: J Tiberghien; T Spring, S Maqala, M Tuilagi, Y Orabe; J Segonds, H Jantjies; I Calles, L Martin, L Tagi; E Johnson, L Paulos; A Fischer, A Iturria, N Lomidze. Replacements: F Bosch, E Tumania, E Setiano, AG Iandolino, B Heguy, M Ariceta, G Martocq, V Hannoun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Champions Cup pool stage: Bayonne 10 Leinster 3 26 mins: Good interplay by Leinster\u2019s backs after a lineout,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32728,42,11287,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-249772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-champions-cup","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-leinster-rugby","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"La](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6ZOJEVXRVFF7YBSTPLJDJDQ26U.jpg\")
La Rochelle\u2019s Simeli Daunivucu against Leinster. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n