Rugby
Sexton and Leinster team suffer Champions Cup Final heartbreak
By Daire Walsh
THERE was disappointment for St Mary’s College man Jonathan Sexton at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille last Saturday as Leinster were denied a Heineken Champions Cup title at the death by La Rochelle.
Thanks to six penalties from Sexton – as well as one from his replacement Ross Byrne – the Blues led 21-17 with the final whistle approaching and were seemingly on the verge of claiming a fifth European top-tier crown.
op 14 outfit La Rochelle had been camped inside the Leinster ’22’, however, and their pressure eventually paid off in the form of Arthur Retière’s converted try.
Instead of the Irish province joining Toulouse at the top of the competition’s roll of honour, their French counterparts became the 13th winners of a competition that has operated under a variety of guises since the beginning of professional rugby in 1995.
Their victory is an Irish success story of sorts with Sexton’s former international colleagues Ronan O’Gara and Donnacha Ryan both being part of the La Rochelle coaching ticket.
Sexton was one of three St Mary’s clubmen to feature in the game with Caelan Doris starting alongside Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan in the back-row.
The vastly-experienced Rhys Ruddock (whose brother Ciaran won an All-Ireland league title with the Templeogue-based outfit in 2012) also appeared off the bench, but could not help steer Leinster over the line.
James Lowe – who has affiliated himself with Clondalkin RFC in recent years – also played the full 80 minutes as Leinster came up just short.
Given he is set to retire following the completion of next year’s World Cup in France, Sexton will have just one more opportunity to add a fifth European star before hanging up his boots.
He started Leinster’s previous triumphs in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2018, but has not lifted the crown since assuming the captaincy from Isa Nacewa a little under four years ago.
Nonetheless, there is still a chance that he may raise silverware aloft in the coming weeks with Leinster set to entertain Glasgow Warriors in a United Rugby Championship quarter-final at the RDS this Saturday (kick-off 3.15pm).