United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster have been trolled online following their naming of Jordie Barrett as player of the match in Saturday’s facile league win over Zebre.

The All Blacks star scored two tries in the Irish side’s 12-try, 76-5 hammering that clinched them the No1 seeding for the upcoming end-of-season play-offs.

Barrett started against the Italians at inside centre and he scored his tries during a six-minute first-half spell during a brutally one-sided match. Writing post-game on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Leinster announced: “The Player of the Match is… Jordie Barrett!”

This announcement, though, was widely ridiculed in the response section with multiple fans hitting out at the fact that Leinster kept the All Black on the bench last weekend until the 50th minute of their damaging Investec Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton – the most important game of their season.

This benching of Barrett opened the door to plenty of criticism of head coach Leo Cullen, and the controversy has now been revisited online in the comments accompanying Leinster’s tweet about the New Zealander being their player of the match versus Zebre. Here is s sample of what has been said:

“You’re literally trolling yourselves…”

Anto O’Connell: “Imagine leaving him on a bench for 50 minutes. Some decisions are never ever forgotten and follow the coach for the rest of their career.”

Bren Walsh: “This club is a joke now. You’re literally trolling yourselves.”

Les@loreor2: “We can only imagine he would have been man of the match last week too if given the opportunity. Can’t get over that single point!”

Michael Patrick Maloney: “Too bad they did not start him last week.”

Baz@b_irishinjapan: “Great idea to keep him on the bench last week. Made sure he was ready for another player of the match performance.”

Will Owen: “Speaking objectively: this IS hilarious.”

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Grec Ahki Libere: “Good idea to bench him against Northampton.”

Martin Beraud: “Well rested.”

Graham Binns: “Shows exactly why not starting him last week was a serious error of judgement.”

Colm McCormack: “The rest last week worked wonders.”

LXR@lxreilly1: “Not starting a player like him in a huge match is unforgivable and demands consequences.”

Ah sure why not @surewhynot100: “It would be amazing if you played him when it matters.”

Brian Horgan: “This is embarrassing.”

Fin @FinnyOD: “And he didn’t start v Northampton… What a terribly bad decision that was. Unforgivable.”

G_Kid @adamogrady: “A joke lads. An absolute joke.”

Barry Delaney: “Pity it wasn’t last week. Unforgivable selection.”

Aidan O’Sullivan: “Rubbish. Jack Conan was by a country mile.”

Tom Tucker: “Time to step down Leo, you’ve made a proper fool of yourself.”

READ MORE: ‘Very lucky’: Ex-All Black explains his new grassroots coaching role in Ireland

Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/leinster-fans-are-all-saying-the-same-hilarious-thing-about-jordie-barrett-after-player-of-the-match-award