LEINSTER COACH JOE SCHMIDT is known for his meticulous planning but he spotted something in the build-up to his side’s Heineken Cup match that he felt needed to be exploited.
The Kiwi feels Scarlets give sly jabs to lineout jumpers and outright ‘sacks’ to lifters.
Leinster lofted unwitting volunteer Jamie Heaslip into the night sky at the RDS, near the start of their 33-14 win, in an attempt to highlight Welsh interference.
We can only hope that the loose forward was wearing protection.
Jamie Heaslip is compromised at the lineout. (LeinsterrugbyTV screengrab)
You can watch highlights of the match below [one of the alleged incidents occurs at 1:18].
Not only is Heaslip tangled with as he claims the ball but Cian Healy is dragged to the ground – the worst offence of the two and what Schmidt was looking to be penalised.
Speaking after the match, which sets Leinster up for a bonus point tilt at Exeter next weekend, Schmidt explained the lineout logic.
He told TheScore.ie, “We felt the way that they defend lineouts, it was something that we could get profit from.
If you have a look, they often sack the lifters. We got Jamie up nice and high early on and gave the officials a nice, clear picture of what they were doing.
“We felt that, once we did that once, we didn’t get a clear result from the officials but we got a result on the scoreboard and that allowed us to feel that we could build some penalty pressure on them if those things are sanctioned.”
