Leo Cullen Bernard Jackman Leinster Rugby France Sport Rugby Leo Cullen Bernard Jackman Leinster Rugby France

Bernard Jackman: Leinster have to be adventurous early against La Rochelle

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Bernard Jackman says Leinster need to play with greater adventure against La Rochelle in Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup final at the Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).Leo Cullen's side face the defending champions in the final for the second year in a row, while the French side also came out on top when they met in the semi-finals in 2021.Twelve months ago, Leinster were held tryless in their 24-21 defeat to Ronan O'Gara's side in the final in Marseille, with La Rochelle scoring the winning try with the final play of the game.Leading up to last year's decider Leinster had been in red-hot form, scoring 343 points and 47 tries across seven matches, while they've been similarly devastating in attack this season, averaging 44 points-per-game.In the 2022 final, La Rochelle's repeated indiscipline in their own half saw Leinster continually win penalties, but rather than kick for the corner, the four-time champions opted to build a score with three-pointers, something that ultimately suited their opponents.And Bernard Jackman says if they can forces La Rochelle into conceding similar penalties this year, they need to make a statement early on and trust their maul to give them tries."I think Leinster have to go to the corner if they have kickable penalties early doors," he told the RTÉ Rugby podcast."If they can't convert them, then they flip and take points, or try score in open play.

But early doors, if Leinster take shots at goal, that will give La Rochelle belief. I think La Rochelle's attack will score." We need your consent to load this comcast-player content We use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.

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