Season to forget sees Leinster’s win percentage slip to Gary Ella levels

A decade of impressive returns shows this season's results starkly.

Leinster's playing staff will find themselves in the slightly odd position of being off duty from mid May. It will be the first time since May 2008 that the province finds itself on holidays well before June. Matt O'Connor's side reached the semi-finals of the Champions Cup this season but found their Guinness PRO12 rivals less than accommodating. They are set to finish fifth in the league and will finish there with a draw at Murrayfield. Connacht supporters will be hoping Leinster can turn over the Scots as they chase a Champions Cup spot of their own. If Leinster do not win, they will finish 2014/15 with a win percentage of exactly 50%. Even if they beat Edinburgh, they will finish at 53.3%, their lowest return since the disastrous 2003/04 season under Australian coach Gary Ella. Here is how Leinster have fared [games, wins and win percentage] over the past 11 seasons, since Ella arrived in Dublin.

Gary Ella

Played 30, Won 14, 46.6%

Declan Kidney and Gerry Murphy

2004/05: Played 29, Won 15, 65.5% [Kidney 68%, Murphy 50%]

Michael Cheika

2005/06: Played 28, Won 19, 67.8% 2006/07: Played 29, Won 16, 59.2% 2007/08: Played 24, Won 16, 66.7% 2008/09 Played 27, Won 19, 70.3% 2009/10 Played 28, Won 19, 67.8%

Joe Schmidt*

2010/11: Played 33, Won 24, 72.7% 2011/12 Played 33, Won 27, 81.8% 2012/13 Played 33, Won 26, 78.7%

Matt O'Connor

2013/14: Played 31, Won 24, 77.4% 2014/15 [to date]: Played 29, Won 15, 51.7% *Schmidt has continued his impressive run wit Ireland, winning 14 of 18 Test matches for a winning percentage of 77.8.