IT DOESN’T TAKE long for a chat with Leinster prop Andrew Porter to turn to the impact that summer signing, Jason Jenkins, has already made with the province this season.
Only Dan Sheehan’s try-scoring exploits have managed to take some of the focus off Jenkins, who has made a strong impression in his opening three outings for his new team.
The 6’8″, 124kg second row already looks like he could be the missing piece in a pack that has been searching for an extra bit of bite, and Porter explains that Jenkins has been a big hit with the squad.
“Apart from size, he’s a brilliant bloke and slotted in so well with the team. He’s an incredible bloke, off the pitch as well,” Porter says.
“He’s a great guy to chat to. He’s an incredible rugby player in terms of his workrate and energy and his physicality that he brings to the game. He’s definitely fitting in well here. It’s incredibly pleasing to see how well he’s slotted in and I think he’ll do incredibly well.
“His all-round game, his physical nature and that presence he has around the pitch… Against Treviso he was making line breaks. Jordan Larmour made a line break halfway up the pitch and it was Jason Jenkins taking the offload from him. That just goes to show he can move for a big man. It’s his all-round game, his set-piece and his skillset and his mentality is brilliant.”
So often lauded for their attacking talent, Leinster have come up in short in a series of tighter, more confrontational encounters across recent seasons against the likes of La Rochelle, the Bulls and Saracens.
With that in mind it’s no surprise to see Leinster place a greater emphasis on the physical part of their game across the early rounds of the new United Rugby Championship campaign.
I think in particular this season, given how our season finished last year, losing against the Bulls and La Rochelle, we had to kind of take a step back and have a look at ourselves as a pack and ask ‘why can’t we be the ones to bring it to other teams? Why can’t we go out there and be more direct, aggressive and physical?’
“There is only so much coaches can do to talk to players and get them to change their mindset on things but it’s incredibly pleasing to see how players are taking more leadership and ownership and I think that’s what has brought us closer as a pack, striving for the same goal.
“We’re not afraid to go more direct now. That’s something we’re really looking to push this season but it’s only the beginning. All we can do is keep improving on previous performances.”
Porter is also wary of keeping that power element in his own game. The 26-year-old is a prime example of the modern, more dynamic front rower who leans as much on his athleticism as he does his strength.
While most front row players tend to depart the action by the hour mark, it’s not unusual to see Porter push deep into games – he played the full 80 minutes of Ireland’s opening July Test against New Zealand, and a quick flick through his stats for club and country last season show similar efforts against the same opposition in November (75mins), as well as France (72mins) and the Bulls (78mins) later in the year.
“It comes down to base fitness,” Porter explains. “On top of that, it’s just mindset where I challenge myself to go the distance if needs be. I prepare myself mentally to have to play 80 minutes if I have to.
“It’s my habits in training that take me to that dark place where you’re pushing yourself and you’re not trying to let up. You’re trying to keep going in those difficult games so it comes down to mindset as well as physical fitness in those games. It’s something I always work on, my physical fitness even outside of training. When we’d time off over the summer I was always making sure I was doing something to come back in the best possible shape to hit the ground running when the games started.”
His bread and butter, the scrum, has also required some fine-tuning after a few difficult days at the set-piece last season. Having spent most of his year early years with Leinster playing tighthead, Porter switched across to loosehead – the position he played coming through the Leinster Academy – at the start of last season. The move back across has, naturally, come with it’s challenges.
In the front row it’s a constant learning process because you’re always coming up against different opposition and, for myself, different tightheads with different techniques and obviously is doing their homework so they find ways to exploit what might be your weakness so it’s a constant learning experience for me in particular. And I’m working closely with Robin [McBryde] here and with Fogs [John Fogarty] in the Irish camp, when we were down in New Zealand in the summer.
“It’s definitely something I’m working on and looking to push forward this season.”
After a testing encounter in difficult conditions against Ulster last week, Leinster are expecting another physical outing when they welcome the Sharks to the RDS tomorrow [KO 5.05pm, live on RTÉ 2/Premier Sports 1/URC TV].
“Obviously it was a hugely physical game up in Ulster,” Porter continues.
“We’d be very disappointed that we let in a maul try. They are the standards we are setting.
“It’s another huge challenge [against the Sharks] given the style of play that a lot of South Africans bring, that power game, that they’re trying to bring, that if they get a penalty, they’ll kick to the corner and maul you over. They’ll look to win penalties at scrum time so it’s a huge litmus test for us as a pack and individuals to see where we’re at at this stage of the season.”
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