Where did it all go wrong for Matt O'Connor?

Replacing Joe Schmidt was never going to be easy but in Matt O’Connor’s first season at the helm he was able to win the Pro12 and brought his side to a European Cup quarter-final losing to eventual champions Toulon. However his second season in the job was nothing short of a disaster with Leinster failing to make it into the play-offs in the league and lost at the semi-final stage of the European Cup despite underperforming for large parts of the tournament. With another year left on his contract, O’Connor was expected to take Leinster into next season but their disastrous season has come at a cost with the Australian relieved of his duties. Following his dismissal we take a look at where it all went wrong for Matt O’Connor.

The Sexton factor

When you are announced as the head coach of a new club losing one of your best players before you have even started your post makes your job a little bit more difficult. Jonathan Sexton is arguably one of the best 10’s in World Rugby and his two year absence has had an effect on Leinster’s play. That is not to say that Jimmy Gopperth and Ian Madigan have underperformed for Leinster but if Sexton had stayed would things have been different for Leinster and Matt O’Connor. It is difficult to say but maybe if it was Sexton and not Gopperth with the drop-goal against Toulon in the Champions Cup semi-final, it would have been them involved in the final against Clermont and 80 minutes away from their fourth European Cup success.

Injuries this season

Matt O’Connor was forced to deal with a hat full of injuries throughout the season. Injuries to key players like Healy and O’Brien didn’t help Leinster’s cause with Irish Internationals, Luke Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney and Rhys Ruddock also missing large parts of the season. New signings Kane Douglas and Ben Te’o who were brought into replace Leo Cullen and Brian O’Driscoll also failed to rack up many appearances after both struggled with injuries throughout the season. Injuries occur for every side but when you are missing key personnel for most of the season it can have an effect on the league table and despite Leinster having most of their key players back for the end of the season the damage was already done earlier on in the season with the play-offs out of their reach.

What happened to the free flowing Rugby?

When Joe Schmidt passed on the baton to Matt O’Connor he left him with a side whose main strength was their attacking free flowing Rugby and their ability to break down sides. We saw glimpses of that in his first season at the helm in particular their impressive win away to Northampton Saints in the Heineken Cup. However this season they struggled to break down sides and were heavily reliant on the boot of Ian Madigan. The Leinstertaining Rugby we saw under Schmidt had vanished and as a result Leinster suffered.

Following O’Connor’s dismissal, forwards coach Leo Cullen will be taking over all team matters on an interim basis until a replacement has been found. The task of finding a new head coach will prove quite difficult with not a lot of top tier coaches available with the World Cup on the horizon. However the rumour mill has begun with the likes of Girvan Dempsey, Leo Cullen, Bernard Jackman, Jono Gibbes, Robbie Deans and Conor O'Shea all mentioned as potential candidates to take over from Matt O’Connor.

Ciaran Fallon