IT’S EARLY YET in the Pro12 season and, with two wins from three, Leinster have enjoyed a relatively steady start. Yet there’s one set of numbers that head coach Leo Cullen really wants to see his side drastically improve on, and soon.
Last year’s beaten-finalists have struggled in the second half of their three games to date, relying on a high early scoring rate that has seen them notch 60 first-half points, with just 18 scored after the turnaround across three games.
Last weekend in Edinburgh, the first-half showing was enough to withstand a rallying home side, but both that game and their loss to Glasgow bore the familiar characteristic of hosts mounting big comebacks against Cullen’s men.
“We definitely need to improve on our second half.” Cullen said after naming his starting XV yesterday.
We scored three tries against Glasgow away from home and didn’t score a try in the second half, we scored four in the first half last week and we only scored very late in the game and we were defending for large periods.
“But you’ve got to give a bit of credit to the opposition that we’ve played as well: they came back strong in in those games. But yeah, it’s something that we’ve got to be conscious of.”
A factor that will aid consistency over the full 80-minute stretch will be the gradual improvement in players’ match sharpness.
“Nothing beats playing. You can do all the training that you want but there’s nothing quite simulates that, that’s a challenge when you’re trying to get guys up to speed.”
Especially when it comes to forwards.
“When a player comes back, it’s maybe not as much of an issue for the backs, but for the forwards when they come back in there’s a realisation that they’re going to be blowing pretty hard.
“We’re playing 22 Pro12 games… last year you play a semi-final, you lose a couple of players leading into a final and it’s important that everybody is able to step up, so we need to be able to rely on more than 23 players over the course of season that involves 22 Pro12 games, six Champions Cup games and hopefully five play-off games after that.
“So it’s the squad – making sure it’s competitive, everyone’s training every day, knowing that if they train well they have a good chance of playing at the weekend. I think that’s important.”
Some fresh physicality will be vital in this evening’s clash with the table-topping Ospreys (19.35, TG4) who will be led by Alun Wyn Jones on his 200th appearance for the club.
Leinster have a boost of a similar pedigree at out-half where Jonathan Sexton returns. But the sight of only two covering backs among the Leinster replacements tells a tale of the kind of cavalry Cullen feels the need to send for in the second period against the league’s highest scoring attack, tightest defence and the only team with maximum points – albeit with two Italian sides among the teams in their wake.
“You look through their squad with the quality they have, it’s no surprise. Two strong wins at home, very impressive down in Galway too,” adds Cullen.
“They’re very dangerous, they’ve a bit more of an attacking mindset than they might have had in the previous season. But I think that probably comes with the frustration of where the finished in the league last season.
“When teams finish like that, they understand the importance of starting well.”
Yet that statement, within the smaller time-frame of a single game, could just as easily be applied to Leinster. At home and with Sexton back at the wheel they will be relishing the most robust challenge the Welsh side have met in this young season.
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