LEINSTER COACH MATT O’Connor says his new-look backroom staff are aiming for an improvement in every area of the side.
While O’Connor took Leinster to a Pro12 title in his first year at the helm, Leinster’s style of play in the post-Schmidt era has left a section of supporters disgruntled.
The Australian briefly hinted that his second season would allow for a slight change in style, but overall, he was looking for an improvement to every element of their play.
“We’ll try to do everything a little bit better,” O’Connor said in Leinster’s UCD base today.
“There’s not one area of our game that we’re completely comfortable with last year. To that end we’ve looked at our game really critically through the off-season. There’s percentages to be made across the board and we’re looking to do that early in the Pro12 campaign.”
The reigning champions kick off the new Guinness Pro12 campaign away to Glasgow Warriors this Saturday in a repeat of May’s final.
Scotstoun has proven to be among the league’s most difficult venues for visitors in recent seasons and, a fired up Glasgow is the toughest possible test the eastern province could face on the opening night.
“They’ve been hurting all summer. They’ll be pretty disappointed with their performance in the final and we’re very, very clear over what we’re going to be presented with. We’re going to have to be incredibly physical and incredibly accurate on Saturday to get the result.”
With such an enticing fixture on the horizon and after a year as Pro12 head coach, O’Connor played down the perception from stakeholders in the Premiership and Top14, that the Celtic League’s competitiveness pales by comparison.
“The Pro12 is our bread and butter. It’s incredibly important to us, especially now that there is meritocracy in the league.
“It’s a fantastic league. It gets rocked around by test commitments a bit more than the Premiership and the Top 14, but at the same time there’s a lot of quality players, Test players, playing week in week out in the league and from that point of view it’s tough.”
Saturday’s home defeat to Ulster was made in a winless pre-season for O’Connor to start his second year in charge. However, after timing their domestic run perfectly last season, that’s certainly no basis for panic around UCD.
O’Connor will be joined by two new coaches to his staff this season, of course, with Leo Cullen stepping up to become forwards coach and Marco Caputo installed as the new scrum coach.
Happier
As far as the pack are concerned, O’Connor points out that Cullen’s commanding nature as a player means that his influence has been seen ont he pack for some time.
“He’s a lot happier on a Monday morning than he was this time last year,” joked the Australian.
“He’s doing a good job, he understands the environment, he’s been integral in the way the forwards have approached things over the last four or five years, so it’s not a massive step.”
