Thought Leinster had a decent shot but my confidence waned after watching Ulster last night. Leinster needed to be full on physical and accurate and the steamy and greasy conditions was not going to lend itself to that. Cullen mentioning the temperature twice during the pre match interview
I said before that Keenan has been caught out in the Nienaber defence before. The try for the scrum Keenan has to stay out and hope Ioane makes the tackle. His error at the start although understandable was exactly what Leinster did not need.
At out half it is a complete mess. There may have been pressure to play Prendergast due to the national team situation. But Frawley was the best 10. Harry Byrne kicking a restart straight out resulted in a 7 pointer. That was not BB pressure it was self sabotage. His poor pass resulted in that easy intercept. Frawley, Leinster's best out half, not used all year and going to Connacht.
Cullen played the same centre partnership as versus Northampton last year. It failed then and it failed today. Robbie Henshaw is three years too slow. Cullen must trust the excellent Osborne. For Lucu's try Henshaw just completely abandons the post. Lucu watches him, picks and scores.
Henshaw gave away two offsides for pen advantages leading to tries including the one after Woki's disallowed try.
Given what I saw last night I think it was going to be extremely hard for Leinster.
The margin if defeat was aided by selection.
The Nienaber experiment has not worked. The CC is the benchmark. Has not happened. Cullen overcompensated after the LaRochelle loss in the Aviva. That was in 2023, three years ago.
