Bernard Jackman: Leinster got kicking game wrong

admin admin | 05-28 00:16

Bernard Jackman admitted that watching Leinster lose another Investec Champions Cup final was tough, but added his former team will have some regrets about the way Saturday's 31-22 defeat to Toulouse played out.

Leo Cullen's side managed to restrict the previously free scoring Top 14 outfit at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but crucially couldn't rack up enough points at the other end to get over the line.

Extra time was needed in north London to separate the teams with Ciaran Frawley dragging a drop goal to win it just wide at the end of the 80 minutes.

Toulouse upped it in extra time with Mathis Lebel's try a crucial score in the extra 20 minute period.

Jackman says Leinster saw enough of the ball to win the game but that they just weren't clinical enough.

"They'll be scratching their heads, wondering what they need to do to get over the line. In all three games they've played well in parts but this was a phenomenal performance by Toulouse.

"It was a game where both defences were very much on top; no tries scored when it was 15v15 and that was for 89 minutes of the game.

"Leinster will certainly rue some of their decision making and accuracy in attack because they dominated possession and territory but couldn't get enough scores to pull away."

Jackman added that when the post-mortem begins on the game in London, the propensity to kick for the corner rather than the posts will surely be one which the Leinster players regret.

"They had a lot of kickable penalty opportunities and they went to the corner and just didn't convert it into scores.

"Toulouse are a side who have been scoring, on average, seven tries per European Cup game this year. They went into the game with a strategy of, 'anything within kicking range, go for it.'

"Leinster's attack wasn't as fluid but they were hell bent on going to the corner. Unfortunately they couldn't get a reward for it in terms of not just getting another penalty but scoring a try.

"Toulouse, every time they survived, you felt they got a lift."

Jackman reserved particular praise for one Toulouse player, adding: "Antoine Dupont was head and shoulders above everybody else. He refused to lose and basically carried his team over the line.

"Anyone who was there on Saturday to see him live witnessed the greatest rugby player in the world at the moment."

We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences


Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.


ALSO READ

Consumers set to pay Rs8.7b for idle IPPs

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is likely to impose an additiona...

No state pension for new employees from next fiscal

KARACHI: Public sector employees hired from the next fiscal year onward will no longer be eligible f...

Sugar prices drop by up to 8.5%

Listen to article The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) on Thursday reduced the prices of sugar acros...

Forged bank notes, equipment found in Waikato searches

Police found forged bank notes and the equipment used to make them yesterday while searching two pro...

Tiny oxygen bubbles a game changer for cutting farm water use

Tiny oxygen bubbles are being touted by some as a potential game changer for irrigating pastures and...

Student's sentence for killing two Melbourne sex workers 'unjust'

A nine-year prison term for a man who killed two Asian migrant sex workers within 24 hours shows tha...