Trophy-hunting Leinster in win or bust territory as URC season begins

How do you solve a problem like the Champions Cup final?

It's a question that has hung over Leinster for far too long.

In addition to agonising narrow defeats in the last three deciders, they also have the pain of 2019, the defeat to Saracens, somewhere in the system.

Had Ciarán Frawley's dropgoal been a yard to the right then the question would be moot. But it wasn’t.

The answer, they hope, is that the arrival of RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett, are the final pieces of the jigsaw.

Leo Cullen’s panel is already full of top-class players but they still felt they needed to add more quality.

They don’t come much better than the double World Cup-winning lock, who switched from Munster, and the All Blacks centre, who arrives from the Hurricanes on a six-month deal after the Autumn internationals.

It’s easy to say, as Leinster do, that not much went wrong last season. And it’s true.

They got complacent at the end of the URC season and ended up with an away semi-final against the Bulls and that spelled the end of the road when they came unstuck in Pretoria.

Whether or not how those games played out has anything to do with taking the captaincy off James Ryan and Garry Ringrose we don’t know, but Caelan Doris, who has skippered Ireland, is now Leinster’s new captain.

In Europe they didn’t put a foot wrong all the way to Tottenham, beating La Rochelle home and away.

But when they ran into the battle-hardened and clinical Toulouse, with Antoine Dupont unplayable, they came up short.

LEINSTER PLAYER PROFILES

Their eggs are likely to go into that basket again this year.

Cullen still has what is described as a luxury problem but the sooner Leinster settle on an out-half and back him then the better for all concerned. Keeping four players happy