{"id":465899,"date":"2026-05-25T08:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T08:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/465899\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T08:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T08:10:11","slug":"why-leinsters-defence-unravelled-in-champions-cup-final-defeat-to-bordeaux-begles-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/465899\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Leinster\u2019s defence unravelled in Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once Rieko Ioane unsuccessfully shot out of the line, you could already hear the chatter: Leinster<\/a>\u2019s defence has been exposed again.<\/p>\n

With multiple defenders in-field taken out of the game, Ioane had to choose between two pink and blue shirts. When he made his gamble, Matthieu Jalibert picked him off and Pablo Uberti scored in the corner. <\/p>\n

Ever since Jacques Nienaber arrived to overhaul Leinster\u2019s defensive system, all eyes have been on its efficacy. Could it get them over the line on the big days? Three years into Leinster\u2019s defensive experiment, this was its most porous big day out, Bordeaux\u2019s tally of 41<\/a> eclipsing the 37 points scored by Northampton 12 months ago. <\/p>\n

While pictures of hapless shooters out of the line are difficult to forget, the blitz was not the issue on Saturday. It was instead another pillar of the Nienaber system that failed. One that should lead to difficult questions, albeit not solely for Leinster\u2019s coach and his methods. <\/p>\n

Before the line speed, something else needs to happen to permit the shuddering man-and-ball hits desired by the blitz. Leinster players have spoken extensively of the \u201cs**tfight\u201d they want to bring to defensive collisions. Dominate tackles. Spoil rucks. \u201cBarge\u201d is another new favourite term. <\/p>\n

\"UnionUnion Bordeaux Begles\u2019 Pablo Uberti scores his sides 2nd try of the match against Leinster. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

In the first half on Saturday, Leinster had just one breakdown turnover. Even then, Josh van der Flier was made to work so hard to secure possession. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Leinster blitzed by Bordeaux B\u00e8gles as they suffer deflating Champions Cup final defeatOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The French side\u2019s attacking breakdown work was sensational. Carriers were never separated from support. Legal violence ensued at every ruck, clean-out men targeting with lethal precision the Leinster tacklers trying to stay on their feet to disrupt. Adam Coleman set the tone with a shuddering hit on Dan Sheehan before the hooker had even finished a tackle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something Leinster have been really good at, slowing down the ruck,\u201d said Noel McNamara, Bordeaux\u2019s attack coach. \u201cI think the average ruck speed is over four seconds against them, I would imagine today was a little bit quicker and that was a big factor for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figures for said ruck speed are not publicly available. What we do know is 63 per cent of Bordeaux\u2019s rucks lasted fewer than three seconds. That backline is always going to do damage with quick ball. Especially when the outside blitz had minuscule time to ready itself. <\/p>\n

In the semi-final against Toulon, Caelan Doris<\/a> received criticism for giving away penalties at the breakdown. On Saturday, he didn\u2019t even get a chance to think about infringing. <\/p>\n

When asked why he and his team-mates struggled to slow the breakdown, Doris pointed to what happens earlier in the play. \u201cI think it\u2019s a step before that, it\u2019s the contact area in the tackle,\u201d explained the Leinster captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to slow their ball down with proper tackle contest and we didn\u2019t have that consistently enough in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cA key component of that is the tackler area and there\u2019s an individual responsibility there as players. I know I had a few, which weren\u2019t good enough and I\u2019m sure a few of us are feeling that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UnionUnion Bordeaux B\u00e8gles’ Cameron Woki is tackled by Leinster’s Andrew Porter and Tommy O’Brien. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

To Doris\u2019 point, according to the Rugbypass database, Leinster made only one dominant tackle. Last time out against Toulon, they had eight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve also got a very strong carrying forward pack,\u201d said Doris. \u201cSo, we got stuck in a bit of a negative loop of allowing them quick ball, quick ball, quick ball, and they\u2019re away.\u201d<\/p>\n

By failing at the defensive breakdown, Leinster couldn\u2019t implement Nienaber\u2019s line speed. In truth, little of their display was what we\u2019ve come to expect of their senior coach\u2019s calling card. Instead of kicking plenty, being content without the ball and efficient inside the 22, Leinster continued the Irish tradition of multiphase play \u2013 with the odd moment of fleeting success \u2013 into the heart of an all-consuming defence. <\/p>\n

Perhaps due to desperation to chase the game, Leinster made more carries than Bordeaux (162 v 104), kicked less (one kick for every 13 passes, compared to UBB\u2019s ratio of 1:4) and were inefficient inside the 22 (1.5 points per entry to UBB\u2019s 4.3). <\/p>\n

In defence, do Leinster have the cattle up front to deal with ferocious French clearouts? With an international-laden pack, the answer should be yes. Doris still believes in the system. \u201cAbsolutely. I think we\u2019ve seen what it can do over the last number of seasons when it\u2019s delivered on properly.\u201d <\/p>\n

What, then, of the other side of the ball: does building a more possession-heavy attack expose a naivety on the important days? If Leinster are aiming to carry out Nienaber\u2019s plans on one side of the ball, while reverting to type in attack, are they merging a coherent game plan or muddled between different ideologies?<\/p>\n

Until they win their long-awaited fifth star, most will point to the latter.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Joey Carbery set for Leinster return, Ulster had eyes on the wrong prize: What we learned from the European finalsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once Rieko Ioane unsuccessfully shot out of the line, you could already hear the chatter: Leinster\u2019s defence has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28581,32728,61,60,28576,11287,112],"class_list":["post-465899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-caelan-doris","tag-champions-cup","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jacques-nienaber","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465899","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=465899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}