Leinster V Stade Rochelais. Champions Cup Final. Sat May 20, 16:45. Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

I am really banking on the fact now that Faz is a better GameDay coach and can do better in a cup environment with the same players against the likes of France SA or NZ than what Leo et al could do against another club team.

Saying that there were moments of intensity that you'd rarely see in the international game today.

Ala'latoa’s conduct was terrible. That sort of play has to be eliminated from rugby.

Thought VDF was the best player on the pitch for a second year running. And again he came out on the losing side.

It does look like the current Irish side are better coached than Leinster. They (Ireland) know how to win under pressure and to win ugly if necessary, whilst there are one or two question marks over Leinster.

To be fair, I think they're not really "question marks" at this stage

Those LaR lineouts in the 22 were a sign that Leinster knew they'd lost. The ball going to Skelton 3 or 4 times without a contest...cost us a card and a try. It was always coming and no-one stepped up to take control. Ryan was missing but it's a final home, no time for not making decisions. That's on the players and the coaches. Kicking was poor, RB very disappointing. Guy has been playing behind Johnny at the highest level for years and today he was anonymous. Shipping passes without taking a step, missing kicks (he often makes those, even from the sideline), not stepping up for the drop goal or even to kick a penalty inside LaR's half that led up to the drop goal opportunity. Also notable that Nagatai stepped into his position defensively late on as he was getting targeted and beaten. A couple of the penalty kicks earlier on should have gone to the corner I thought, particularly late in the first half.

Ringrose played well, as did Henshaw and Conan, but Doris at 6 didn't do much by has own standards. Similar with VDF, great in defense for a lot of the game but not much more. JGP made a lot of poor decisions but was played off the park at set pieces. You'd wonder after the match what the combined team would be if it was fairly even beforehand. Ryan was a big loss but Sexton was the missing piece that might have made the difference. Fair play to LaR though, given the horrible start they showed unbelievable bottle and courage to come back and dominate from minute 20 on. Defitely echos of Leinster and Northampton. It's bad news for the WC and I feel like we need to get ROG back to Ireland asap. Another tight loss but the record will show Leinster as nearly men during this whole period in Europe. Do they need to recruit a ten and another big forward?

Im thrilled for Dilane, Ryan, ROG.

When a ref allows a free for all at the breakdown all day long the unfortunate consequence is the highly increased probability of a player being stretchered off.

Peypers a liability and its the players that pay the price

Hopefully it dampens the notion that picking the Leinster team at international level is optimising our potential at international level. In particular today should be a wake up call on the ability of Ross Byrne at the very highest level.