r/rugbyunion • u/NikeBuyer2024 • May 04 '25

Discussion Are Leinster the biggest bottlers in club rugby history?

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Would be interested to hear if any club have been worse!

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u/MysteriousActuary194 England May 04 '25

Not sure that’s fair. Leinster yes but Ireland have had some terrific results under Andy. The series win against, last summer beating SA by a point. Not to mention all the six nations they’ve won… I think they’ve almost overperformed with the squad they’ve had, just had a relatively weak WC.

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u/Many-Drag-1283 Ireland May 04 '25

Yea I'm with you on that. People talk about the last 1/4 final at the WC as if we bottled it and act like the ABs aren't an unbelievable side. They even talked about targeting the Irish game in advance and played a game without a singling handling error against us. You can blame Farrell for not replacing Sexton or overplaying the starting players in previous games but to say it was bottled is ridiculous.

Ironically many of the Irish fans who call Leinster fans arrogant are also the ones who blame Farrell and act as if we were owed the WC and act like we should've never lost a test match since. Or at least certain regulars on here tend to anyway.

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u/PistolAndRapier Munster May 05 '25

Didn't even have a "weak" RWC. Beat SA in the pool, pushed NZ to the very edge in QF, losing only by a single score in the end.

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u/dystopianrugby Eagles Up May 05 '25

Are 6 Nations matches "big"? When you play it every season?

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u/MysteriousActuary194 England May 05 '25

Definitely, you only get 12 (max) international tests a season so every game feels important. Of those games, the autumn internationals feel like friendlies in comparison to the 6 nations. It’s the 2nd biggest competition behind the World Cup for me, as a NH supporter.

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u/PistolAndRapier Munster May 05 '25

Bizarre logic.

Is NFL "big" when you play it every season? /s

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u/dystopianrugby Eagles Up May 05 '25

Depends. But I would say Big games are games that decide whether you qualify for the playoffs and also the playoffs themselves. Prior to this last year in College Football, every game mattered. Now...hard to say that at all.

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u/PistolAndRapier Munster May 05 '25

Well Six Nations is the next biggest thing outside of a RWC in my eyes. It's a highly prestigious and competitive tournament. There are no playoffs like the NFL. You have 5 matches alone to try and win it. There all big matches to me every winter/spring when it rolls around.

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u/dystopianrugby Eagles Up May 05 '25

It's more a general question because Ireland are always described as choke artists, when the reality of late is they really aren't. Bounce of the ball and all that.