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Gibbes hails O’Gara for being the architect of Leinster’s downfall United
La Rochelle director of rugby Jono Gibbes has heaped praise on his head coach Ronan O’Gara after the French side overcame Leinster to reach the Heineken Champions Cup final for the first time.
After falling behind to an early Tadhg Furlong try, the home side suffocated Leinster’s attack with a superb defensive effort and then overwhelmed them physically in the second-half to win 32-23 thanks to second-half tries from the brilliant Will Skelton and Gregory Alldritt and 22 points from Ihaia West.
“That’s a massive credit to ROG in that we were under pressure, we knew they were going to fire good shots at us and I think the fact that we changed nothing in our defence and just stayed resolute, stayed disciplined to the system that he’s put in place, that he’s created and it told,” former Leinster coach Gibbes said.
“It’s a compliment to hear Leinster struggled against our defence, that’s always good, but we still conceded two tries, so there’s work to do.
“Certainly the discipline around the breakdown and being patient about when to go out at the ball on the ground and when to just keep people up on feet, that’s something that we can take forward from that experience today.”
La Rochelle will face Toulouse at Twickenham in the final on May 22.
Irish Independent
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