'Not a normal rugby team' - The Leinster flex that floored Jake White

Jake White has seen just about everything in his long coaching career, but even the World Cup-winning coach was left stunned by the depth of Leinster talent after their 32–7 dismantling of the Bulls in Saturday’s URC final at Croke Park.

Speaking with disarming honesty in the aftermath of the defeat, White paid a series of glowing tributes to Leo Cullen’s side, describing Leinster as “not a normal rugby team” and marvelling at the quality available to them across the park and off the bench.

“You have to understand, this is not a normal rugby team,” he said of Leinster.

“We are naïve when… I made a note in my book, they are 19–0 up and they bring on RG Snyman.

“It’s just a different league altogether and that’s why Leinster supporters are probably so disappointed because they were waiting for that performance the whole year and we just happened to get the 40 minutes that they were waiting for the whole year.

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“We couldn’t get our hands on the ball. I say again to all the Irish, I don’t think they give the credit to that Leinster team. They are well coached, they are fantastic guys as well.”

The addition of Springbok Snyman off the bench — deployed almost as a luxury option with the game already leaning heavily in their favour — spoke to the disparity in resources between the two sides.

White was blunt in his assessment of the gap and what needs to change for South African franchises to compete consistently at this level.

“The lesson I’ve taken from that is we need more international players to play in our province. I need what Leinster have. I need to be able to fight fire with fire.

“They’re sitting in the coaching box, 19–0 up, and say, ‘RG [Snyman], warm up’. They put him on and let him menace the defence like he did tonight.”

For White, it was a sobering reminder of the standards being set by the Irish URC heavyweights.

“I keep banging the same drum. I’ve coached some of the best players in the world, players who have won player of the year twice. If you’re playing against 23 internationals, I think today Leinster were short with only 22, there is a complete difference.

“That’s a phenomenal provincial team. That must be the best Leinster team, I know that’s going to be a headline but that must be one of the best Leinster squads they’ve ever had.”