Former Leinster coach Matt Williams discussed how Leinster’s loss at the death in the Champions Cup final will affect the club’s psyche after suffering such a devastating loss.
Leinster suffered a heart-wrenching defeat at the hands of Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle side in the Champions Cup final last Saturday. Leo Cullen’s side led for seventy-nine minutes of the match until replacement scrum half Arthur Retière scored a try in the game's dying embers to snatch the title away from the Dublin side.
This is the second final Leinster has lost in the past four seasons in the Champions Cup. Matt Williams spoke on Monday Night Rugby about the psychological damage this loss could potentially have on Leinster.
“This is a very damaging loss for Leinster,” Williams said. “Yesterday, there were a lot of text messages going between the old Leinster community, and all of us were saying this was going to sit with this club for a long, long, long time.”
“It is going to be a hard one to throw off. Even in the next seven days, how do they throw that off and get their heads around winning the next URC match? This is a loss that is going to sit deep within the psyche of the club.”
“I really feel for them. I feel for Leo. The pain on Leo’s face before we came on, he just looked at me and said Matt make it quick. I felt for them and the players. They were destroyed by that loss. It’ll take them some time to put that into perspective and get about their life again. It was a very tough day for them.”
Leinster will return to action and look to bounce back from their devasting loss in the final against Glasgow in the URC quarter-finals at the RDS. O’Gara’s La Rochelle will travel to the east of France to take on Challenge Cup winner Lyon on the 5th of June in the Top 14.
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