YESTERDAY MORNING, A Leinster squad fresh from recording a convincing 49-14 win at Gloucester sat in a meeting with assistant coach Andrew Goodman and were told they needed to sharpen up their attacking game.
You can be sure there were few in the room who disagreed. With three Champions Cup bonus-point wins – and 22 tries – to their name, Leinster are setting the pace in Pool A with the general consensus being their best is still to come.
“There’s lots more to come actually,” according to attack coach Goodman.
“We had a good catch-up around that today actually in our meeting around the growth, probably around the consistency of it really. Like, if we can do that once we should be able to do it more. So consistency of nailing your role at a really high level, the skillset, the execution of your line etc, just making sure we can do that over and over and over again rather than sporadically through games.”
It’s a mindset that is indicative of the high standards the province set for themselves. At Kingsholm, Leinster dominated possession (67%) and territory (65%) while scoring seven tries, but still left feeling they should have been more clinical in the Gloucester 22.
Some of that may be the result of a squad still getting familiar with new ideas. The highly-rated Goodman joined the province from Super Rugby’s Crusaders last summer, and has been cautious not to rip up the playbook at a club that have played some of the most exciting attacking rugby in Europe over the last few seasons.
With a couple of months in Dublin now under his belt, the former Leinster player’s influence is increasingly coming to the fore.
When asked which of Leinster’s seven tries at Gloucester he found most pleasing, it didn’t take him long to opt for Jordan Larmour’s opening score – the winger finishing a sharp lineout strike play – while he also highlighted the clever interplay which saw Michael Ala’alatoa run in their second from close range.
“It was great to see the different variation there,” Goodman continued.
“The first one, to start the game like that and see the intent. The roles everyone played, the accuracy in everyone’s role from the throw to the lift to the pass, all of the delivery was spot on.
But that little try that the forwards came up with was pretty special as well. To go through untouched like that was pretty cool. I’ve got a little group of forwards to work with on those variations they are pulling off on those quick-taps. It’s great to see the players having a great input and for something like that to come off for them.”
For both scores, it was backrower Caelan Doris who played the decisive pass.
“He was unreal. That pass he gave off that quick-tap… He was involved in a lot of our plays through the lineout, that skillset was something that was highlighted and that he trains incredibly well.
“The way that Leinster train, with the amount of touches that the forwards get on the ball, it gives them that confidence to pull it off on gameday.”
From an attacking sense, it’s all coming together nicely for Leinster as they prepare to welcome Racing to the Aviva Stadium for their final pool game on Saturday.
But before that game rolls around there’s also the small matter of Andy Farrell announcing his Six Nations squad on Thursday morning.
Goodman provided a positive update on the fitness of both Johnny Sexton (cheek bone) and Tadhg Fulong (calf) ahead of Ireland’s opening fixture against Wales on 4 February.
“Johnny was out on the field charging around today,” Goodman said.
Obviously non-contact at this stage but it’s one of those injuries where he’s been able to do all of his running, his skill work, he’s been involved in everything apart from the contact aspect of the game, so he’ll build that over the next couple of weeks and I’m sure he’ll be great to go.
“Tadhg was back in doing some unit work today so again, he’ll build into team stuff. So a couple of weeks of that, I’m sure they’ll be ready to get into Wales first up.”
Sexton only played one of Ireland three November Tests, with a string of injuries at out-half opening the door for his Leinster teammate Ross Byrne to come back into the fold for the first time in 20 months – kicking a nerveless match-winning penalty against Australia.
Byrne has built on that memorable November cameo with a run of strong form at Leinster. At Gloucester he nailed all of his place-kicks and varied his attacking threat, including a smart slap-pass under pressure which led to Hugo Keenan running in their fifth try.
Goodman believes on current form, Byrne deserves another call into Ireland camp.
“I’d have him in there, 100%. Ireland and Leinster play a similar game and I think with Johnny in there, he is as similar as you’ve got to Johnny in terms of how he can go in there and he can run a game of rugby, so big game, goal-kicking pressure as we saw against the Aussies, little things like that. I’d definitely have him in there.
“(He’s) Just running our game incredibly well, he knows the game inside out, how we want to attack in particular.
“He’s demanding, he holds everyone accountable but the main thing is knowing his own job week-in, week-out. His goal-kicking has been outstanding, but I think the thing to my mind is he knows his game management and ability to be one or two phases ahead of the game like a little chess master really.”
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