Latest scars won't heal easily for Leinster

As soon as the replays hit the big screen, the mood shifted in the Aviva Stadium.

Leinster may have been losing, and there may have been less than two minutes to play, but it looked like they were ready to make a hero out of Ross Byrne.

Twelve months on from falling apart in the Champions Cup final against La Rochelle, they had fallen apart again, only this time they'd given themselves a few minutes to put the pieces back together.

With play stopped for a head injury to George Henri Colombe, Leinster would have a scrum five metres out, and while their own set-piece had been under pressure for much of the game, all it would take was a couple of phases infield before Byrne could drop back into the pocket and hit the winning dropgoal.

And then we saw the replay, with Michael Ala'alatoa running in at pace and shouldering Colombe to the back of the head. It was never going to be anything other than a red card, but regardless of the colour, the reality was that La Rochelle would have the ball. Game over.

While Jaco Peyper had no option but to deliver the red, it's a shame that the greatest Champions Cup final had to end in such a way.

Leinster's three-try haul in the opening 12 minutes was as perfect as rugby could be. At Friday's captain's run, Ronan O'Gara predicted Leinster's attack coach - his former Crusaders colleague Andrew Goodman - would "have something up his sleeve", and after 40 seconds he found out what that 'something' was, a wonderfully clever lineout move that caught the La Rochelle pack cold.

Every element went right for Leinster in that opening period. The stretched La Rochelle's defence, their ball retention was instant, and their kicking was pinpoint.

Their linespeed and aggression in contact was almost