ON MONDAY NIGHT Ulster came to Dublin with a plan and executed it brilliantly at the RDS.
With Leinster still getting to grips with Jacques Nienaber’s new defensive system, Dan McFarland’s side looked to exploit the space available in the backfield through the boot of out-half Billy Burns, who set up three first-half tries with his impressive kicking game.
After a tighter second half Ulster managed to hold on for a memorable one-point victory. Speaking post-game, head coach Dan McFarland stressed it is no secret that “if you play the kind of defence that Leinster are going to play this year, they are susceptible to kicking”, and the Leinster dressing room were equally measured in their analysis, despite the clear sense of disappointment that comes with losing an interpro on home soil.
It is still early days for Nienaber at Leinster, so there is an understanding that it will take time for his ideas to fully embed with the squad.
“It’s still a new system,” explained Caelan Doris. “We’re still getting used to the way Jacques wants us to learn, by making mistakes, by throwing us in the deep end and learning through mistakes as opposed to being a little bit cautious and not fully committing to it and it’s bound to happen at the start.
“We’re still only five games in with Jacques and I think it will evolve as you go on. We enjoy it and it’s an exciting way to defend as well, the mindset to get the back always as well. In conditions like this as well it’s something that you put a little bit more pressure on teams.”
There may be some issues to iron out but there are also positive signs of Nienaber’s influence on the group. Leinster’s aggressive linespeed has been notable since the South African joined and after the Ulster game, both McFarland and Burns highlighted their relentless approach around the breakdown – something Munster boss Graham Rowntree also touched on after their St Stephen’s Day clash in Limerick.
It’s clearly been a key area of focus for Nienaber but Doris also credits the work of contact skills coach Sean O’Brien.
“I think there is more of an onus on the individual tackle and barge, post end, and post tackle effort and trying to create a bit of a mess there,” Doris continued.
“Teams have done it to us over the last couple of seasons, Ulster did it to us (on Monday) at times definitely.
“But it’s hard to play against, and I think especially in conditions like this, there is more of a responsibility to do that and to slow down their ball, there was obviously a lot of kicking, a lot of box kicks, trying to disrupt that and not make it clean for them.
Towards the end of last season it was something we spoke a little bit more about, creating chaos at the breakdown and every tackle is an opportunity to create chaos.
“But yeah, it’s been another step up this year with Seanie and Jacques coming in and just attacking in defence, not just off the line but in the tackle and the back end of the tackle as well.”
The defeat saw Leinster’s nine game winning run across the URC and Champions Cup come to an end, but even when the province were notching up the victories they had yet to fully hit their stride. Doris believes the Ulster defeat might just be the spur they need as Leo Cullen’s side prepare to head into Champions Cup ties against Stade Francais (13 January) and Leicester Tigers (20 January).
“Definitely we’ve a lot of belief in the quality of our players and coaching staff. Even looking back at some of our recent performances, we’ve got the results but they haven’t been great performances.
“A lot of that comes from our training and how we train, our training habits and leading into the game. It’s not how we want to start the new year off but we’ve got two big exciting games coming up, it’s not the worst thing in a way at this stage of the season to have a proper look at ourselves and a reflection and improve things.”
