'I felt I wasn't going to miss' - Byrne on winning pen

Leinster match-winner Harry Byrne said he felt confident standing over the last-gasp penalty which snatched a dramatic Investec Champions Cup pool 3 win over La Rochelle in Dublin.

With Leinster trailing 24-22, replacement out-half Byrne stepped up after having earlier missed a conversion attempt to steer the Irish province to a nail-biting bonus-point win.

Byrne took the penalty after a discussion with Sam Prendergast - who missed two conversion attempts earlier in the game - and the 26-year-old said there was "not much" chat before he stepped up.

"I just said to Caelan [Doris, captain] I want to take it," Byrne told Premier Sports.

"I'd taken the one before, hit the post but I hit it well so I felt I wasn't going to miss that one.

"It was a straight kick. To be honest, I probably played for a bit of a draw with the first one and hit the right post. I lined it up dead centre and struck through it."

Leinster won by the slimmest margin after a back-and-forth contest. They raced into a 12-0 lead and fell 17-12 behind before surging 22-17 behind.

But after La Rochelle moved two points clear with a late try, Byrne's penalty capped another compelling entry into the rivalry.

"It was chaotic," added Byrne, whose last Ireland cap came in the 2024 Six Nations.

"We wanted to play and keep the ball on the pitch but probably didn't realise that they wanted to do that too so it turned into a ding-dong battle to see who'd break first really.

"We wanted to keep the ball in play as much as we could and back our fitness, we spoke about it all week. Coming into that environment, with slower bodies, you can inject a bit of tempo."