IN THE WAKE of the province’s defeat to Munster in the United Rugby Championship at Croke Park on Saturday, Robin McBryde acknowledged that he and his fellow coaches have been examining the role they played in preparing Leinster for battle.
While Leinster were 14-point winners (26-12) when the two sides previously met at GAA HQ in the same competition a little over 12 months ago, their arch rivals were the sharper of the two teams on this occasion.
Despite conceding a converted try to Ronan Kelleher in the seventh minute, Munster successfully imposed their game plan on Leo Cullen’s men and ultimately claimed a richly deserved 31-14 bonus point victory.
“Obviously, everybody is disappointed after the loss, but you’ve just got to give credit to Munster, really. They were obviously up for it a bit more than we were. They came with a plan, executed it, and we failed to adapt to it for whatever reason,” the Leinster assistant coach said at a media briefing in UCD yesterday.
“As coaches, we’re looking at ourselves and asking whether we prepared them well enough for what was to come. On the evidence of Saturday, probably the answer is no. We didn’t. In fairness to Munster, they employed their tactics to stop us from playing.
“Equally as well from our end, did we try and play too much? Maybe. We failed to deal with the game plan that Munster employed against us, really. You’ve just got to tip your hat to Munster and say well done.”
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Although there is always a determination to bounce back from a resounding loss, it will be several weeks before the majority of those who featured in Croke Park on Saturday return to donning the blue of Leinster.
16 of those who saw game time against Munster are part of the eastern province’s 22-strong contingent in the Ireland senior squad for the forthcoming November internationals.
As a consequence, a radically different group of players were put through their paces at Leinster’s UCD training base yesterday in preparation for a URC clash with Zebre Parma at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday (kick-off 5.30pm).
In the absence of so many frontline stars, those who are named to face the Italians on the weekend will be looking to get Leinster back on track following their latest league reversal.
Having previously suffered back-to-back losses to the Stormers and the Bulls on a mini tour of South Africa, last weekend’s result means Leinster have now fallen to three defeats in their opening four games of the new URC season.
This is the same number Leinster lost across 28 outings in all competitions last season, but considering the calibre of players that are at the disposal of Leo Cullen and his backroom staff, McBryde is confident the defending URC champions can experience a significant upturn in performances and results over the coming weeks and months.
“There are too many quality players here not to [improve] really. I’m sure when we do all get back as a squad, we’ll address those issues. We’ll have to do it pretty quickly because we’re straight into Europe with the fixture against Harlequins [on 6 December]. That’s the first time we’re getting back.
“Between now and then, we’ve got Zebre and we’ve got Dragons. Neither of which is going to be an easy game. Zebre, they’ve won two games already this year. It’s one game at a time.”
A number of those who have now switched focus to Andy Farrell’s international squad were also marked absent for those aforementioned encounters in South Africa with the Stormers and the Bulls.
McBryde stated that many of the players who featured in the southern province are likely to be involved against Zebre on Saturday.
While the Stormers game in Cape Town on 26 September saw Leinster on the receiving end of a chastening 35-0 defeat, they delivered a much-improved display against the Bulls in Pretoria eight days later, and came away with a try bonus for their efforts.
The hosts may have claimed the spoils in the end on a scoreline of 39-31, but McBryde believes a much-changed Leinster can use that game as a template of sorts for the visit of Zebre to Irish Rugby HQ.
“You saw a big improvement between the first and second game. A lot of those players will feature again this week. We’ll try and re-grab that feeling that we had in the changing room after the Bulls,” McBryde added.
“I know we didn’t win, but it was a much better performance. A solid performance. We just need to get the boys on the same page and try to go a step further for that group. Get the win on the weekend now.”
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'They were obviously up for it a bit more than we were'
IN THE WAKE of the province’s defeat to Munster in the United Rugby Championship at Croke Park on Saturday, Robin McBryde acknowledged that he and his fellow coaches have been examining the role they played in preparing Leinster for battle.
While Leinster were 14-point winners (26-12) when the two sides previously met at GAA HQ in the same competition a little over 12 months ago, their arch rivals were the sharper of the two teams on this occasion.
Despite conceding a converted try to Ronan Kelleher in the seventh minute, Munster successfully imposed their game plan on Leo Cullen’s men and ultimately claimed a richly deserved 31-14 bonus point victory.
“Obviously, everybody is disappointed after the loss, but you’ve just got to give credit to Munster, really. They were obviously up for it a bit more than we were. They came with a plan, executed it, and we failed to adapt to it for whatever reason,” the Leinster assistant coach said at a media briefing in UCD yesterday.
“As coaches, we’re looking at ourselves and asking whether we prepared them well enough for what was to come. On the evidence of Saturday, probably the answer is no. We didn’t. In fairness to Munster, they employed their tactics to stop us from playing.
“Equally as well from our end, did we try and play too much? Maybe. We failed to deal with the game plan that Munster employed against us, really. You’ve just got to tip your hat to Munster and say well done.”
Although there is always a determination to bounce back from a resounding loss, it will be several weeks before the majority of those who featured in Croke Park on Saturday return to donning the blue of Leinster.
16 of those who saw game time against Munster are part of the eastern province’s 22-strong contingent in the Ireland senior squad for the forthcoming November internationals.
As a consequence, a radically different group of players were put through their paces at Leinster’s UCD training base yesterday in preparation for a URC clash with Zebre Parma at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday (kick-off 5.30pm).
In the absence of so many frontline stars, those who are named to face the Italians on the weekend will be looking to get Leinster back on track following their latest league reversal.
Having previously suffered back-to-back losses to the Stormers and the Bulls on a mini tour of South Africa, last weekend’s result means Leinster have now fallen to three defeats in their opening four games of the new URC season.
This is the same number Leinster lost across 28 outings in all competitions last season, but considering the calibre of players that are at the disposal of Leo Cullen and his backroom staff, McBryde is confident the defending URC champions can experience a significant upturn in performances and results over the coming weeks and months.
“There are too many quality players here not to [improve] really. I’m sure when we do all get back as a squad, we’ll address those issues. We’ll have to do it pretty quickly because we’re straight into Europe with the fixture against Harlequins [on 6 December]. That’s the first time we’re getting back.
“Between now and then, we’ve got Zebre and we’ve got Dragons. Neither of which is going to be an easy game. Zebre, they’ve won two games already this year. It’s one game at a time.”
A number of those who have now switched focus to Andy Farrell’s international squad were also marked absent for those aforementioned encounters in South Africa with the Stormers and the Bulls.
McBryde stated that many of the players who featured in the southern province are likely to be involved against Zebre on Saturday.
While the Stormers game in Cape Town on 26 September saw Leinster on the receiving end of a chastening 35-0 defeat, they delivered a much-improved display against the Bulls in Pretoria eight days later, and came away with a try bonus for their efforts.
The hosts may have claimed the spoils in the end on a scoreline of 39-31, but McBryde believes a much-changed Leinster can use that game as a template of sorts for the visit of Zebre to Irish Rugby HQ.
“You saw a big improvement between the first and second game. A lot of those players will feature again this week. We’ll try and re-grab that feeling that we had in the changing room after the Bulls,” McBryde added.
“I know we didn’t win, but it was a much better performance. A solid performance. We just need to get the boys on the same page and try to go a step further for that group. Get the win on the weekend now.”
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Croke Park Munster Reaction Robin McBryde Rugby Leinster