CHAMPIONS CUP RUGBY
IT DOESN’T LUKE GOOD
BY DAIRE WALSH
LEINSTER’S Luke Fitzgerald admits the province are “not in a great position” after a second successive European Rugby Champions Cup defeat.
With just one point accumulated from their two games to date, the Blues cannot afford further slip-ups in their remaining pool encounters.
However, Fitzgerald does not feel qualification for the knockout stages is beyond them just yet.
And, like next opponents Toulon, he believes that the players who have returned from the World Cup are still re-adjusting to club rugby life.
After the 19-16 defeat to Bath which followed a 33-6 hammering by Wasps, Fitzgerald said: “It’s not in a great position. We were looking for a bit of a reaction and that was the only pleasing aspect – that there was some kind of reaction and we made it difficult for Bath during periods of the game.
“In terms of the group, it is not impossible for us to get out and it’s very important that we don’t lose confidence.
“You probably saw that Toulon struggled a bit as well on the weekend against Wasps because they have an awful lot of guys coming back from World Cup duty, the same as ourselves.
“It does make it a little bit tricky to get used to different systems, playing with different guys again.
“There are a couple of things that the squad is thinking about and that will get better coming into those two games against Toulon.
“It’s important for us not to lose heart and to give it our all in those two games and see where we lie after that.”
George Ford’s 76th-minute penalty ultimately sealed Leinster’s fate at The Rec.
But flanker Rhys Ruddock was of the opinion that inaccuracy when it came to adding a second try was their major downfall, rather than a lack of desire or defensive endeavour.
He added: “I thought defensively we needed a reaction after last week. We wanted to put in a big performance and show that intent off the line, put them under pressure.
“You always have to be careful with a team like Bath. They’re all good footballers and they’ll try to manipulate you and make you jump out of the line and make the wrong decision. That’s when they’re really dangerous.
“I thought that for the most part we showed that we wanted to be there.
“We wanted to be breaking tackles and putting pressure on them. I think it was more of a case of just not being able to be accurate enough to score a decisive try or keep the pressure on them at times.
“It could have had a massive reflection on the score at the end.”