LEINSTER’S LINEOUT TOUBLES against Clermont caught the attention of Bernard Jackman on the latest edition Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
“I left the stadium saying, ‘What’s going on with Leinster’s lineout?’ The biggest thing that I could come up with was Ross Molony leaving,” Jackman said.
“That sounds maybe a little bit ridiculous, but Ross had an incredible influence there. He didn’t play every big game, but he did play a lot of them for Leinster because Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster recognised that the lineout was really key.
“He was also a good ball player, but he wasn’t the same type of athlete as Joe McCarthy, James Ryan or Ryan Baird. There’s a premium on that defensively to have people who can bash and counter-ruck, so obviously he’s moved on. But he was the lineout guru in Leinster, he was Leo’s right-hand man.
“He came up with the lineout menu. Even when he didn’t play, he would have had an influence on the options. Now that he’s gone, it just looks like there’s no heir apparent. “
Jackman added: “It’s not just Leinster, but this has obviously impacted Paul O’Connell at Ireland as well, because there’s a lot of the same people involved, bar Peter O’Mahony and Iain Henderson sometimes off the bench.”
“I think the failure here is that over the last five, six or seven years, we have failed to develop really astute lineout callers.
“Like you saw at the weekend, once the initial plan doesn’t work, Leinster just looked a bit rattled and edgy. It’s not just Leinster. Munster can be the same when Pete isn’t on the field.
“Connacht, in fairness, have a couple of good lineout callers, but unfortunately, they’re not in the Irish mix at the moment.
“There’s going to have to be a lot of work done [at Leinster] to develop it and Ireland will benefit from that too,” Jackman said.
If you are not already a subscriber then sign up here to listen to this podcast and enjoy unlimited access to The 42.
Must be Tadgh Beirne and Paul O’Connells fault, right lads?…
@Adam Pitts: Right
It is one of the better ones in Europe. I think 4th best success rate in URC. One bad week and everyone is pissing their pants.
@David Hickey: they are fifth, but that counts lineout steals (Leinster have most with 15). They are 9th on own throw with 85%. I would think that is acceptable, and Jackman is talking crap again.
@David Hickey: were you watching the same match that I was?
@David Hickey: Is there any real evidence of a decline in the Leinster line up? I think it’s close to 90% except for the last two matches. Tend to believe Nienaber that they tried something and it didn’t work out.
Take it easy lads, one game. I am more worried about the attack, a more prominent consistent issue. Bleyendaal is a complete unknown, at least with Goodman you knew he had good strike plays. The positive is the scrum, Clarkson has really improved there and really looks in great shape physically and if you can understand somewhat of what’s going on in the scrum you’ll see that Gus Mccarthy is an absolutely outstanding scrummaging hooker for his age, him and Slimani as a unit are very powerful together. Jamie Osborne is badly missed, our most creative centre and a much bigger man than Henshaw
@Eoin H: Irelands attack has seriously regressed since Goodman took over. Just move side to side and lose yards until someone kicks the ball away.
@mcdb06: There is a serious misconception here. Farrell is in charge of the Ireland attack. Goodman oversees the strike plays.
The same line out failure as Ireland as the line out only started to win its own ball when Henderson and PoM came on
McCarthy’s ineffectiveness at the line out could cost him a Lions place
@SAMUEL T McGLADERY: i don’t see mccarthy as a lion selection yet. He has a lot of potential, alright, no one in the country can match him for power. Got a few work on’s yet before he hits that level of player.
Shocking line outs. If they didn’t lose one it was not straight in others. Needs to be looked at and fast
a little bit more concentration in the area and they’ll be fine. it’s not rocket science to throw a ball and catch it, especially for professionals.
@Tom Murphy: it kinda is when you’ve got athletic opponents guessing correctly when and where you’re going to throw the ball.
@Tom Murphy: it’s 1 of the most difficult things to get right in rugby.
There has been a tendency to favour athleticism over primary skill in the Leinster/Munster/Irish front five for a few years – resulting in weak scrums and hookers who have trouble with lineout accuracy. This has been a particular problem since Dev Toner retired. Sheehan is badly missed.
The problem with pundits sometime is that they are paid to voice a perspective, even in cases when most wise people would reserve their opinion. It’s one game and they were trying new things. It’s not a big deal
@Petter Sellberg: I’m not sure I’d buy that ‘we were trying things line’ . It was a H-Cup game and every point counts. The failure to get a BP will probably cost a home semi (esp since you still have to play LRO away). If I were ye, I’d prefer to avoid Stade Toulousain in Toulouse. It was definitely not the day to try a new lineout system. you could do that in URC even against a decent LO defence (e.g. against us in TO with PO’M) with almost no consequence to your URC chances.
@Michael Corkery: maybe you’re right but Leinster’s line-out hasn’t been bad so whatever the reason it’s very early to panic after one game. These things can easily get overanalyzed and blown out of proportion