WHAT an anti climax. Saturday’s Magners League final defeat to the Ospreys left a very bitter taste of this season in all the players’, management and fans’ mouths that unfortunately will last until the season starts again in September.
With a sell-out RDS and 95% of the supporters shouting for us it was set up for a fairytale finish to Michael Cheika’s reign. But fairytales don’t often happen in sport and our performance was so poor that we can’t have any quibbles about the result.
From the outset the Ospreys took the game to us with great pace and strength and our defence, which is usually our strength, was leaking all over the pitch.
There was 29 internationals on the field with Leinster hooker John Fogarty the only uncapped player to start but, having been called up to the Irish tour to New Zealand and Australia last week, hopefully he will soon be an international.
We made a huge amount of handling errors despite perfect conditions and we also failed to implement the kicking strategy we had hoped for which led to the Ospreys having a territorial advantage over us.
Our cause wasn’t helped by the injuries suffered during the game with Kevin McLaughlin being the most serious as it looks like he tore his cruciate ligament and faces nine months on the sidelines.
With Stephen Ferris and Sean O’Brien ruled out of the summer tour Kevin was nailed on to start against the All Blacks.
For a 26-year-old he has already suffered a litany of serious injuries and has the mental strength to get back to the level he showed this year.
Stephen Keogh replaced Kevin on Saturday but he injured his knee soon after and had to leave the field.
Shane Jennings also hurt his ankle and we ended up having to put replacement hooker Richard Strauss on as an open side flanker for the last 30 minutes.
Johnny Sexton unusually missed a relatively easy penalty chance with seven minutes left which would have put us two points behind and then a drop goal or penalty would have given us victory but if I am honest we didn’t deserve it and the Ospreys, having outscored us two tries to nil, were good value for the win and their first Magners League trophy.
I see the Ospreys as being a team in a similar place to where Leinster were three seasons ago where we had a lot of talent and potential but we couldn’t seal the deal and win silverware.
Our Magners League win on 2008 set us up for the Heineken Cup in 2009 and the Ospreys could become a real force next season. For Leinster a lot of changes are in store.
Having had continuity over the past five years having the same head coach in Michael Cheika and a lot of the same back room staff this summer there will be a new head coach, manager, defence coach and a new gym coach.
The dressing room won’t be the same without CJ, Mal, Girve and Chris Keane but the younger lads coming through the academy will hopefully fill that void and continue the culture we worked hard to achieve.
For me I am looking forward to a summer spent with the family. I will go to the Galway races this year for the week with my wife and do things like that which, because of rugby training, we haven’t been able to do for the past 12 seasons.
I am writing a book about this season and my career as a whole detailing all the highs and lows and the characters I have shared dressings rooms with over the years so I will be finishing that off over the coming months and it should be ready to be published in September.
I am really looking forward to the start of my new career as a coach and I hope it will be as enjoyable as my playing one has been.
I would like to thank my family and friends for all the support that they have given me over the years.