AS LEINSTER BEGAN to pull clear and flex their muscles against Sale Sharks on Saturday, the province found themselves in a comfortable enough position to try some new ideas.
In the 67th minute Rónan Kelleher was introduced off the bench, but unusually, the hooker came in for James Ryan. Instead of a straight swap with Dan Sheehan, Kelleher went in at hooker, Ryan Baird shifted from the back row to lock and Sheehan moved to the back row.
You couldn’t say the 27-year-old, who captained Leinster in the absence of Caelan Doris, looked out of place at number eight as he finished a fine 80-minute shift in style. With the final play of the game Sheehan went on a lung-busting break to assist Jamie Osborne for Leinster’s final try in a 43-13 win.
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A potential move to the back row had previously been discussed, but, as Sheehan and Leo Cullen took media duties post-game, the hooker was quick to point out no such conversations had taken place recently.
“Always be ready,” Cullen reminded Sheehan.
“There was a few quizzical looks anyway, but it was good at that point, just a little bit of experimentation. And it looked good.”
Sheehan was asked if he had ever played in the back row before.
“Well I played an ‘A’ game up against Connacht. I don’t know what year. We got hammered. It wasn’t a good day!
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“It didn’t bother me really (on Saturday), there were a few conversations and we were probably a bit slower to the next lineout in terms of who goes where.
“But I’ve been in and around the squad for long enough, we haven’t changed up that much, so I know the role pretty well. In weeks where I amn’t playing, I’d train in the back row for the other team, it didn’t feel too bad. The lungs just about hung on, wasn’t too bad.”
Cullen suggested it’s an option Leinster could turn to again further down the line.
“That’s why we wanted to see it, we’ve had discussions about it in the past and it’s a good option in terms of the personnel we have and the ability to be able to do it. It’s great.”
Leinster are still not firing on all cylinders, but for the second week running, the positives in their game looked promising. Within the group, the feeling is that there is more to come.
“Yeah, some of the plans were coming together nicely that we worked on during the week,” Sheehan said.
“I thought our attack has been improving every week, and there is still so much more we can improve on, lads are grabbing hold of it, as a player group as well, as coaches, I think we’ve probably let things slide as a player group early in the season that we need to really grab hold of, and you still see the inaccuracies that we get but if we can capitalise on them, especially early in the first half, you can sort of destroy a team and then you build a scoreboard pressure and then you’re away.
“But we’re making hard work of it at the minute, but we just need to show up on Monday and go back to work and improve in Ulster on Friday.”
Sheehan was asked to elaborate on his view that Leinster’s players had ‘let things slide’ earlier in the season.
Sheehan makes a late break against Sale. Dan Clohessy / INPHO
Dan Clohessy / INPHO / INPHO
“It’s just making sure that we as a player group are holding ourselves accountable, not waiting for Leo or the rest of the coaching lads to pick up things.
“There’s so many talented players in our squad that know the way we want to play, know how to do it and almost know how to coach it… if we can get as many lads as possible calling people out, chirping up in meetings, calling it as it is in training… we’ve got so much potential and experience in the group, if we can get it all out in a positive and constructive way we’ll be in a good spot.”
That potential came across in the second half against Sale, Leinster scoring five tries as they started to find a level of accuracy missing in a scrappy, error-ridden first half.
“Yeah, first half was a bit sticky and frustrating. I thought we had so many opportunities that we left out there and we were just repeat errors whether at the breakdown or loose balls so I think we kind of came into half time a bit frustrated and it was nice to get it going in the second half, the likes of Scott (Penny) coming in with a massive hit just to turn momentum around a bit, and slowly we built a scoreline and they had to change the way they play and they kind of suited us a bit almost.
“It’s probably a bit disappointing that we couldn’t make that sort of statement early in the game, because I thought we did a lot of work which was good but we just couldn’t finish it.
“But it was an enjoyable game, that’s what you need. You need to be excited going out, big games like these, that’s what I said to the lads before the game, these are the days you miss when you’re not in the squad, there are a lot of disappointed lads there who aren’t in, we have to wear the shirt represent as well.
“They put in a lot of work during the week and put in a good test. It would be rude of us to go out there and just walk the motions. I thought we did a good job in the second half to turn it up.”
This week it’s back to the URC, with Leinster taking on Ulster in Belfast on Friday night. The province will issue a squad update later today, with the mounting injury list at loosehead a potential area of concern after Alex Usanov limped off just four minutes into Saturday’s win.
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'We've probably let things slide as a player group early in the season'
AS LEINSTER BEGAN to pull clear and flex their muscles against Sale Sharks on Saturday, the province found themselves in a comfortable enough position to try some new ideas.
In the 67th minute Rónan Kelleher was introduced off the bench, but unusually, the hooker came in for James Ryan. Instead of a straight swap with Dan Sheehan, Kelleher went in at hooker, Ryan Baird shifted from the back row to lock and Sheehan moved to the back row.
You couldn’t say the 27-year-old, who captained Leinster in the absence of Caelan Doris, looked out of place at number eight as he finished a fine 80-minute shift in style. With the final play of the game Sheehan went on a lung-busting break to assist Jamie Osborne for Leinster’s final try in a 43-13 win.
A potential move to the back row had previously been discussed, but, as Sheehan and Leo Cullen took media duties post-game, the hooker was quick to point out no such conversations had taken place recently.
“Always be ready,” Cullen reminded Sheehan.
“There was a few quizzical looks anyway, but it was good at that point, just a little bit of experimentation. And it looked good.”
Sheehan was asked if he had ever played in the back row before.
“Well I played an ‘A’ game up against Connacht. I don’t know what year. We got hammered. It wasn’t a good day!
“It didn’t bother me really (on Saturday), there were a few conversations and we were probably a bit slower to the next lineout in terms of who goes where.
“But I’ve been in and around the squad for long enough, we haven’t changed up that much, so I know the role pretty well. In weeks where I amn’t playing, I’d train in the back row for the other team, it didn’t feel too bad. The lungs just about hung on, wasn’t too bad.”
Cullen suggested it’s an option Leinster could turn to again further down the line.
“That’s why we wanted to see it, we’ve had discussions about it in the past and it’s a good option in terms of the personnel we have and the ability to be able to do it. It’s great.”
Leinster are still not firing on all cylinders, but for the second week running, the positives in their game looked promising. Within the group, the feeling is that there is more to come.
“Yeah, some of the plans were coming together nicely that we worked on during the week,” Sheehan said.
“I thought our attack has been improving every week, and there is still so much more we can improve on, lads are grabbing hold of it, as a player group as well, as coaches, I think we’ve probably let things slide as a player group early in the season that we need to really grab hold of, and you still see the inaccuracies that we get but if we can capitalise on them, especially early in the first half, you can sort of destroy a team and then you build a scoreboard pressure and then you’re away.
“But we’re making hard work of it at the minute, but we just need to show up on Monday and go back to work and improve in Ulster on Friday.”
Sheehan was asked to elaborate on his view that Leinster’s players had ‘let things slide’ earlier in the season.
“It’s just making sure that we as a player group are holding ourselves accountable, not waiting for Leo or the rest of the coaching lads to pick up things.
“There’s so many talented players in our squad that know the way we want to play, know how to do it and almost know how to coach it… if we can get as many lads as possible calling people out, chirping up in meetings, calling it as it is in training… we’ve got so much potential and experience in the group, if we can get it all out in a positive and constructive way we’ll be in a good spot.”
That potential came across in the second half against Sale, Leinster scoring five tries as they started to find a level of accuracy missing in a scrappy, error-ridden first half.
“Yeah, first half was a bit sticky and frustrating. I thought we had so many opportunities that we left out there and we were just repeat errors whether at the breakdown or loose balls so I think we kind of came into half time a bit frustrated and it was nice to get it going in the second half, the likes of Scott (Penny) coming in with a massive hit just to turn momentum around a bit, and slowly we built a scoreline and they had to change the way they play and they kind of suited us a bit almost.
“It’s probably a bit disappointing that we couldn’t make that sort of statement early in the game, because I thought we did a lot of work which was good but we just couldn’t finish it.
“But it was an enjoyable game, that’s what you need. You need to be excited going out, big games like these, that’s what I said to the lads before the game, these are the days you miss when you’re not in the squad, there are a lot of disappointed lads there who aren’t in, we have to wear the shirt represent as well.
“They put in a lot of work during the week and put in a good test. It would be rude of us to go out there and just walk the motions. I thought we did a good job in the second half to turn it up.”
Their reward is a semi-final date with Toulon, to be played at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 2 May.
This week it’s back to the URC, with Leinster taking on Ulster in Belfast on Friday night. The province will issue a squad update later today, with the mounting injury list at loosehead a potential area of concern after Alex Usanov limped off just four minutes into Saturday’s win.
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Champions Cup Dan Sheehan Leinster Rugby standards