Springboks and Bulls legend Victor Matfield says that Leinster ‘must be’ mentally frail following years of underachievement by Leo Cullen’s men.
The Irish giants are always among the favourites – if not the outright preferred side – for both the United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup titles at the start of the season.
They usually get to the latter stages of both, but have fallen in either the semi-finals or final in recent seasons.
Matfield was duly asked by Off The Ball if there is “mental frailty” with Irish teams and the former lock responded in brutally honest fashion.
Should have won ‘five or six trophies’
“There must be, especially with the Leinster team. I mean this quality team should have taken five or six trophies in the last few years. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen,” he said.
“Also, I just think it was with the focus almost being on the double. They want to do the Champions Cup, they want to win the URC.
“The quality team that they are, they should actually win both trophies every year and that hasn’t happened.”
Leinster have not won a trophy since 2021 while their last Champions Cup success came in 2018 – their only continental triumph in the past 13 years.
That has not been deemed an acceptable return by most observers considering they are stacked with Ireland internationals, have added global stars Jordie Barrett and RG Snyman to their ranks, and have hired a Rugby World Cup-winning head coach for good measure.
Many expected that this was the year they would overcome their hoodoo but a defeat to Northampton Saints in Europe has left just the URC.
Cullen’s men have finally managed to reach their first domestic final since the South African sides joined the competition, however, and will hope to answer a few of their critics this weekend.
They take on the Bulls at Croke Park in Dublin and, despite Matfield’s scathing assessment in regards to Leinster’s previous failures, the former Boks lock has a feeling that they will end their quest for silverware on Saturday.
“I still think this year’s different because they are out of the Champions Cup,” he said.
“It’s only the URC that they need to focus on so I think it should be easier for them to focus on this. Everything is going into this game now, they’re throwing everything at it.
“Someone last night said they hope a lot of them have got one eye on the British and Irish Lions already, but I don’t think that with this Leinster team – they want a trophy. They want to win this trophy.”
Simon Zebo’s view
One person who has no doubt enjoyed Leinster’s inability to get over the line is one of Munster’s favourite sons, Simon Zebo.
The former back three star agreed with Matfield over their shortcomings from a mental perspective, but also stated there has been ‘arrogance’ in some of their decisions.
“A bit of it would be mental. There were a few selection calls in the past. When Munster beat them in that semi-final [in 2023], they rested a lot of the bigger players and it was a very weakened team,” Zebo told the Irish Mirror.
“There were a couple of little arrogant things through selection. But when they’re fully loaded, they’re an incredible team. It’s a bit of a headache. Now those players have to play three games back to back to back.”
Leinster have adopted a siege mentality in this URC run-in and Zebo insists that it is worth doing something different considering their past failures.
“They’re probably out to prove people wrong and that will probably help,” he added.
“Their previous mentality hasn’t worked so I suppose going in with a fresh mindset, maybe Jack Nienaber might have had some insight there, he’s a brilliant motivator and gets the players going.
“I don’t like Leinster, just because they’re rivals. Munster dislike them and they dislike Munster, that’s no problem. It’s like Barcelona and Real Madrid in soccer.
“Of course you don’t like your rivals – but I don’t think the general public hate Leinster as much as maybe they believe inside the camp. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/springboks-legends-brutal-assessment-of-mentally-frail-leinster-while-simon-zebo-points-to-irish-sides-little-arrogant-things
