Crestfallen Leinster fans leaving the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London yesterday said they were proud of their team despite losing to Toulouse in this year’s Champions Cup final — and said the result would only make the club hungrier to secure an elusive fifth European trophy.
On a sunny Saturday evening, after Leinster came off second best in a crushing 22-31 defeat that went all the way to extra time, Blues fans spoke of their frustration and disappointment after losing a third final in as many seasons.
However, they said they could not fault their players for effort. “After three years, you’re kind of used to heartbreak but you have to look at the players and they left it all out on the pitch. They gave it everything. They will be disappointed as we are disappointed but they did everything they could. You’re looking at that drop-goal towards the end of the second half,” said Conor Steenson, a long-time supporter from Wicklow, ruing what could have been a famous drop goal to clinch a historic victory by substitute Ciarán Frawley in the game’s dying moments. “That was either it or it wasn’t. We just have to build up and go again.”
Dan Steen, an estate agent from Shankill, said losing out this year again would only increase the squad’s appetite to win in Cardiff next year.
“Where you really saw the break was when we lost James Lowe for those ten minutes [in extra time]. Then momentum shifted completely. It [winning] would have been a massive payoff. They’ve been straining for that fifth European championship for a long time,” Steen said, adding that the teams were “closely matched” through the final.
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Shauna Ryan, a supporter attending her first game since she returned to Ireland from Australia, said the tie was a spectacle even though it was not the outcome she had been hoping for. “I think everyone thought we were going to win. We got our money’s worth for our tickets,” Ryan said.
Roisin Kelly, 24, who bought tickets for the final at the quarter-final stage because she “anticipated” the team would go all the way, said she thought Leinster had been chasing the game from the outset and that certain players had been “sloppy” in the first half.
“It’s a missed opportunity. I think going into next year, it could tip either way. Either the heads are down after losing [consecutive finals] or the heads are up to win the next. I don’t think it’s over yet,” Kelly said.
Earlier on matchday, inside the fanzone next to the stadium, a festival of rugby passion was on full display. Many neutrals had made the journey to Tottenham to proudly sport the colours of clubs who had been considered contenders but fell short, such as La Rochelle and Northampton.
Most Leinster fans said that they had decided to channel the heartbreak of losing last year by taking a gamble and booking tickets for this year.
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Some fans said they had even bought tickets for the Champions Cup final in 2025 due to their strong faith that Leinster would make it there no matter what.
The fanzone was also home to unlikely alliances and amnesties.
“A Leinster wife is the be-all and end-all. You have to suspend reality for a day. It is Leinster all the way today. [A hypothetical final between Leinster and Munster] would be very easy, I will go with my friends and she will go with hers, and we will part ways,” Nathy Feely, who is from Tralee and is a Munster fan, said.
Feely is married to Niamh, a superfan of the Blues, who describes herself as akin to an “exile” from Dublin now that she lives down in Kerry.
“It’s rough. There are about five or six of us expats. 2011 was my first Champions Cup final but I’ve been going to games with my dad since the 1990s,” she said.
