DESPITE COMING AWAY with a win at a tough venue, Tyler Bleyendaal admitted Leinster were frustrated with aspects of their play against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road last Friday evening.

Coming off the back of a 45-28 triumph over Harlequins in the Aviva Stadium six days earlier, Leinster were hoping to further cement their European Rugby Champions Cup credentials for 2025-26. Yet the eastern province had some difficult moments in their latest meeting with an English Premiership side and found themselves trailing 15-6 to Leicester at the midway point in the action.

A number of basic errors played its part in preventing Leinster from developing a sustained attacking rhythm in the opening 40 minutes of the contest. Converted second-half tries from Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan eventually propelled the visitors towards a 23-15 victory, but Bleyendaal nevertheless accepts the province have significant scope for improvement.

“It was a frustrating one where we weren’t converting some pretty clear opportunities. We had a chat about that this morning as a group. Sometimes it’s just an individual area. Sometimes it’s a bit of composure, other times it’s decision making,” the Leinster assistant coach remarked at a media briefing in UCD yesterday.

“I think just as a group we’ve got to be better, because we created opportunities to score points and apply pressure. Even worse, then we turn one over and they score the length of the field [through Adam Radwan]. So it’s like a double whammy. Definitely something we’ve identified as an area for improvement.”

While acknowledging their performance was far from perfect at Welford Road, Bleyendaal is still satisfied with Leinster recording a brace of wins from their opening two rounds in Pool 3 of the Champions Cup.

The province’s form in the United Rugby Championship has been mixed thus far this season, however, with three defeats from their opening six fixtures leaving the defending champions sixth in the overall standings.

This Friday will see Leinster returning to URC action at the Aviva Stadium against an Ulster team that are currently two places and five points ahead of them in the table, despite playing one game fewer than Leo Cullen’s men. This clash will be followed by further interprovincial bouts with Munster (27 December) and Connacht (3 January) and Bleyendaal believes it will be important to examine the depth of their squad over this tricky festive period.

“We’re probably going to have to make some changes and rotate our squad, which is good for us. Other guys will get opportunities. We’d like to be further up on the URC log, that’s for sure, but we are where we are.

“We tackle a very tough Ulster team that are riding pretty high at the moment. It’s going to be a pretty hard challenge for us. We need to turn up and it’s going to be an exciting challenge for us. I would expect them to come here fully loaded and very motivated. We’re going to have to match that and better that.”

Although they do have a number of those who featured for Ireland in the recent Quilter Nations Series – as well as recent recruit Rieko Ioane – at their disposal, Leinster continue to have a number of big-name players on the absentee list.

In a squad bulletin that was issued by the province yesterday, there were no further updates on nine players – including the likes of Hugo Keenan, Ryan Baird, Andrew Porter, Garry Ringrose and RG Snyman.

However, Bleyendaal did explain that Keenan is ‘out running’ and is optimistic he isn’t far off a full return from a hip injury that required surgery last summer. The former Munster player also revealed Porter is back running after being ruled out in recent weeks with an arm issue and that Ringrose is close to reintegrating back into the squad having missed out on last week’s encounter in Leicester.

There is also an additional boost for the province ahead of Friday’s clash with Ulster as Jack Conan is available for selection after coming through the graduated return to play protocols following the head injury he sustained in the Leicester game. There were some questions raised over the Wicklow native initially remaining on the field in the wake of an early collision with Freddie Steward at Welford Road – before eventually being replaced in the third minute – but Bleyendaal feels this isn’t uncommon in professional rugby.

“I think the matchday doctor had called for an assessment and whether he didn’t pass it or it was abnormal or something, it was deemed he was to not play anymore. I’m not sure how that process goes. I think there’s some sort of tablet that they look at,” Bleyendaal added.

“If our doctors deem him fine, then the matchday doctor can also look at the footage. [If he’s] not necessarily right then at that stoppage. I think it happens often, doesn’t it, in rugby? Where the matchday doctor will call something minutes or a long time after an event.”