As we head into the closing stages of the club rugby season, Leinster find themselves in the fortunate position to be in with the chance of potentially bringing home two major trophies.
Heading into the Northampton game, Leinster had taken a risk leaving almost all of their first-team players at home, for their URC tour of South Africa.
It was a calculated risk. For 60 minutes, it looked inspired. Two early tries from James Lowe and a penalty from Ross Byrne gave them a big lead at half-time. Lowe completed his hat trick within three minutes of the second half which led many to believe it was the final nail in the coffin for the Saints.
However, that wasn't to be the case. Following a major second-half downfall, Northampton would go on to claim 15 unanswered points to create a tense final ten minutes. Leinster weather the Northampton storm, to claim a 20-17 victory seeing them into the Champions Cup final vs Toulouse on May 25th.
In the wake of that final quarter, many are questioning whether or not Leo Cullen's men have what it takes to finish the job in both the URC and Champions Cup.
"This Leinster side need to play a little bit more rugby"
Speaking to Balls.ie, Stephen Ferris highlighted thought Leinster clearly lacked match fitness and it was evident as the game wore on.
It's a weird one, because being in that position, where you have had a couple of weeks off and you go into the game and you're super fresh, right? You're absolutely buzzing, you're flying and that's exactly what Leinster looked like for 40 minutes.
But when you haven't played for a few weeks and you know, it comes to 65 minutes and, you know, you maybe on the pump for three or four minutes. With multiphase and Northampton were, attack after attack and sort of finding their groove, then all of a sudden the lungs start to burn a little bit more. The legs become heavier.
And obviously these guys haven't had that feeling for a few weeks and then in the last 10 minutes of the game, they, they nearly lost it.
As we head towards the final stages of the URC second place Leinster will want to reclaim the top spot in the league to ensure the best possible pathway to the final. Ferris believes the core players will need to get minutes in the upcoming fixtures if they are to avoid a repeat of that second half vs Northampton.
This Leinster side need to play a little bit more rugby. They'll want to finish in top spot.
I think Leinster are going to go pretty strong against Ulster and then they've got Toulouse in a final. You've got two big games in the URC two pretty strong teams, maybe mix and match a little bit.
But they have to have a bit more match fitness and it's not sharpness, it's not being sharper because they look sharp, it just felt like, they just lost a bit of energy in that second half, and for me that's just down to not playing enough over the last month so let's see how this weekend goes.
📥 | 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞!
Here is the #LeinsterRugby team that will face @ospreys tomorrow evening in The RDS#LEIvOSP #FromTheGroundUp pic.twitter.com/EOfRth3wJB— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) May 10, 2024
Leo Cullen's squad selection v Ospreys this weekend suggests he too has identified the issues highlighted by Ferris.
Cullen has made just five changes to his squad from the team that faced the Saints in Croke Park last weekend, as they gear up for one last push towards their first piece of silverware since 2021.
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