Caelan Doris: La Rochelle loss took a while to get over
While their dramatic defeat in the Champions Cup final remains a painful memory for both him and his team-mates, Caelan Doris is looking upon the hunt for United Rugby Championship glory as the ideal antidote for Leinster.
Now in his fourth season as a senior squad member, the Mayo native had his sights firmly set on a first European title with the eastern province in 2021/22.
Leo Cullen’s men were 21-17 in front when Doris was withdrawn 66 minutes into their showdown with La Rochelle in Marseille last Saturday week, but Arthur Retière’s late converted try ensured it was their Top 14 counterparts who came away with the spoils.
Although the few days that followed this loss proved difficult for the Ireland international, a subsequent 76-14 hammering of Glasgow Warriors in a URC quarter-final has substantially raised the spirits within the Leinster camp.
“The hurt is still there a bit and I’m sure it will be for a while. It was a low few days and I was almost surprised how low I felt for a few days afterwards. You sort of almost feel sorry for yourself, you want to go back to different moments from the game and change them. ‘If I did this or that it could be different’. That sort of thought is going on, but we processed it pretty well as a group,” Doris said.
“Reviewed it, tried to turn the page and move on to Glasgow and the opportunity to go again. It was a positive that our season wasn’t over. We still have the opportunity to lift a trophy at the RDS in front of friends, family and supporters. That’d be my first time to do that.
“I was around in 2020 behind closed doors, but to have the opportunity to win something in front of hopefully a full RDS is definitely exciting. By the end of last week lads were feeling a little bit better and excited for what was ahead. Instead of dwelling too much on the past.”
Having fallen short to Saracens and La Rochelle on two occasions each in their past four European campaigns, a narrative is beginning to build around Leinster’s supposed struggles with power-based teams. The Bulls are expected to present a similar challenge in the last-four of the URC at the RDS on Friday (kick-off 7.35pm), but this is something that Doris is relishing.
“I think it’s good for us. Probably a work-on over the past few years has been dealing with those power-based teams. Not letting big men run through us and it’s the same with set-piece. The result went the wrong way, but in some aspects of that we were better against La Rochelle.
“That’s in part due to getting exposure against the South African teams. They obviously rely a bit more at set-piece and on their pack like most South African teams, so it’s another opportunity to go again at that,” Doris added.