Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)
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Just finished watching the match back for review. What a contest.
Disagree with some of the comments that were on here re: Leinster getting sucked into the Bulls kicking game. Leinster lacked territory to launch their attacks for a lot of the first half. There were very few moments in the game where I was thinking "Jesus, why did they kick that?". I'd say there were maybe two questionable kicking decisions in the first half in my opinion anyways: (1) JGP box kick on half way which bounced in field just outside the 22m and went into touch - positive outcome - but from the lineout the Bulls kick downfield and Leinster get a goal-line drop out - so its hard to weigh up. (2) Ross Byrne put up a Garryowen near halfway that I thought they might've ran, but Jimmy O'Brien actually wins the contest. From there, Leinster are slow to the ball and get turned over.
I think the second kick offers a good additional reason of why Leinster wanted to kick so much in the first half. Furlong, the tighthead prop, is the first up in support for JOB. The usually all-action JVDF saunters in late well after he's been played onside, which is very uncharacteristic for him. Simply, I think the Leinster pack were absolutely knackered after 25-30 minutes. They simply couldn't work hard enough to get into shape and build phases - whether it be because of the travel, altitude, minutes accumulated or otherwise. They were out on their feet.
Their only real innings came not from open phase play but set-piece strikes. Doris had a strong momentum carry early on in the game off lineout but got turned over by Hanekom. Inside the 22m line, they learned from their mistakes vs Toulouse and instead of trying to out-maul a stronger pack, they played quickly off the top to their strengths. In the first half, Lowe scores if Sheahan successfully gives the pass inside instead of chucking it on the floor (mind they scored a few phases later anyways). Sheahan was also unlucky not to break through earlier in the half too off another lineout move where Henshaw ran a switch and gave the ball back towards Sheehan coming off the edge. Their territory for Doris' try came from another well executed midfield strike off a lineout. Before the tap and go penalty, they play a nice strike move off the top from deep inside the 22m rather than trying to maul.
At every opportunity, when presented with a set-piece in their half, Leinster tried to attack. I don't think that's indicative of a that didn't want to attack like some posters suggested. When they were put on the backfoot by some accurate kicking and a strong pack, they had to resort to playing for territory. Simple as that.
I thought it was also telling that the phase play only really ramped up from a Leinster POV after the 55th minute when the subs came on. At that stage, all of Leinster's strong gain-line carries were coming from fresh legs: Ala'alatoa, Kelleher, Conan, etc (Doris was the exception to this). That further shows to me that the starting pack just ran out of juice far too early in the first half to put any meaningful phases together.
Aside from that, there is definitely a skill accuracy issue present in Leinster that hasn't been before. It was the same v Toulouse, an alarming amount of dropped balls in general phase play. It used to be the case that when Leinster attacked, there was an air of inevitability around them - that they'd just casually march up the pitch and score in seven or eight phases. This year though, some things just aren't clicking the same. Passes are going to ground or behind players instead of sticking. Who the blame falls upon there is beyond me.
I don't think the Blitz defence is as much of an issue as has been made out by some either. What's weird to me is that in South Africa's blitz system, wingers shoot up like crazy to shut down opportunities. But yesterday, the space down the edges was (for the most part) from Leinster wingers sitting far too deep, rather than shooting up. There were a few times when the ball was barely inside the 15m and Lowe had retreated deep expecting the box kick. This left Baird usually (JGP on another occasion) defending the edge. I don't know whether Leinster felt JOB needed a bit of extra support in the backfield for the game, but it lead to loads of space in the 15m channels. Larmour also found himself deep often on the opposite wing - not really playing that South African style "shoot up and shut down" defence. It just seemed none of the back three were really connected to eachother and the defensive line. None of them were on the same page.
Shout out to Doris, Ringrose (tackled like a demon) and JGP. Kelleher had a strong cameo off the bench as did Osbourne. The entire Bulls backrow were elite, especially Hanekom that absolute freak. He was unplayable yesterday. Also big shout out to Nortje - he's often seen as the "dud" spare South African second row in the national team, but he got through an immense amount of work in the 80 minutes.
Where Leinster go from here, I have no clue. I'm a Munster fan looking in, and it seems that every Leinster fan has a slightly different opinion on who to blame. Some think Cullen isn't offering enough, others think Nienbar has poisoned the place, others again reckon that Goodman is the blame for their stalling attack, while some also think McBryde is underperforming with the forwards available to him. I think someone even asked what Sean O'Brien was offering as contact skills coach. Every coach seems to be catching flak from some angle, and it's hard to pick out what actually needs to change. For me, Nienbar needs a full pre-season under his belt before he can get truly judged. Blyendall is coming in for Goodman already, so we'll see what kind of effect that has. I don't see McBryde or O'Brien losing their roles anytime soon, which leaves Cullen, who nobody knows how much influence he truly has on the team. Officially he is head coach, but is it more a DOR role? Has he taken more onfield ownership since Lancaster left or is that left to Nienbar? These are the kind of questions which need clarity before we determine whether he's at fault for the recent lack of success, and what potential replacements are available.
Anyways, that's a slightly-too-long essay on my perspective. Onto semi-final #2 now :/
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