LEINSTER DELIVERED WHAT was the most complete and impressive performance of the Heineken Cup weekend when they beat Northampton on Saturday evening.
Connacht justifiably stole the headlines, but it was Matt O’Connor’s side who gave the most complete display of attacking and defensive strength over the course of the three days of European action. The sheer physicality Leinster brought to Franklin’s Gardens laid a wonderful platform, and that dominance of the collisions was at the root of everything they did well.
With their ball-carriers getting over the gain-line so consistently, rucks were easier to clean out and Leinster could play at a high tempo. O’Connor’s side had to make 128 tackles to the Saints’ 86, and also had a 45% minority share of possession.
They defended superbly and then when they won the ball back, they were frighteningly accurate. We’ve taken a look some of their tries to highlight that precision.
Luke Fitzgerald first try
Ken Pisi was shifted into fullback at the last minute for Northampton due to a late injury to James Wilson. The makeshift 15 has little experience in that position and Leinster immediately targeted him early on in the game.
After Pisi has knocked on following an Ian Madigan aerial bomb, Brian O’Driscoll took full advantage of Pisi’s poor positioning to set up Luke Fitzgerald’s opening try. The centre spotted that Pisi had joined the Saints’ defensive line just a second too early [circled below] and punished him with an accurate grubber in behind.
O’Driscoll has tried this little kick several times over the last month with Ireland, but it hadn’t come off as it did last weekend. It was exemplary of the precision Leinster brought against Northampton. He spotted the space and placed a perfect grubber in behind Pisi, forcing the Saints man to panic and presenting Fitzgerald with the chance to score.
Targeting opposition weaknesses ruthlessly was a feature of Leinster’s Heineken Cup successes in the recent past, so it was encouraging to see them doing that on Saturday.
Luke Fitzgerald second try
A Jamie Heaslip turnover was at the root of this second score for Leinster, accuracy at the breakdown saw him make a clean turnover of possession – a rarity in rugby now, when most attackers prefer to hang on to the ball and concede a penalty.
As Leinster built the score, going through six phases, there was some wonderful contact and ruck technique involved. The first aspect we have highlighted in the video below is an excellent clear-out by Gordon D’Arcy. After Fitzgerald carries in midfield, the centre comes into the ruck from the right-hand side and accurately removes the turnover threat of Dom Waldouck.
A couple of phases later, Mike Ross carries to the right-hand side of the posts and again there is a slight risk of Northampton getting their hands on the ball. As you’ll just about make out in the video below, the tighthead prop rolls his body over the ball to protect it.
The technique – one which Warren Gatland is a big fan of – only takes a split second to perform and Ross’ momentum means it’s not too difficult to do, but even still it’s important. That split second allows his supporting players to clean out effectively and provide rapid ball for Reddan to spread wide.
Once the ball is shifted out the the left we get a fine example of Leinster’s ability to accurately run decoy lines. Madigan is circled below, winding up his pass and hoping to move the ball out the ‘back door’ to Gordon D’Arcy.
Sean O’Brien’s decoy line is signified by the arrow and you can see that he is already interesting the bald-headed Sam Dickinson in defence.
When play runs on another second, we can see that Dickinson has completely bought the decoy line from O’Brien – who is a such dangerous ball carrier and would have been identified as such in Saint’s preparation.
D’Arcy [circle] has instead received the pass from Madigan and a try is really the only outcome. The centre gives a quick, accurate pass and then O’Driscoll comes up with a magical, between-the-legs pass which is also precise, allowing Fitzgerald to score.
Jamie Heaslip try
This try was all about Leinster’s strong ball carriers powering over the gain-line and providing front foot ball. Even still, rucks need to be hit and there were more examples of excellent clearing out. The animation below shows Jack McGrath doing exactly that, allowing Rhys Ruddock to subsequently pick the ball and make a few more metres.
There were other moments of excellent ruck work throughout the 80 minutes from Leinster, underpinning their ability to attack at pace. Returning to the passage above, Ruddock burst through to offload to Sean O’Brien and off the next phase, Heaslip scored.
The running lines of Sean Cronin, who gave Madigan a return pass, and Gordon D’Arcy were essential to the try being scored. With the ball moving across the pitch from left to right, the lines from that pair were enough to keep the Northampton defensive line ‘honest’.
When we see the above situation in play, notice how both Cronin and D’Arcy interfere with defenders when they don’t have the ball. Technically, blocking and grabbing defenders is illegal, but their actions are realistically too little for the referee to halt play for.
Decoy lines are often under appreciated, even by players themselves. However, in this example [below] both Cronin and D’Arcy were highly accurate and selfless with their decoy running and understanding of the need to straighten the line.
Luke Fitzgerald third try
The try that gave the winger his hat-trick was once again about doing the little things accurately and at speed. It was D’Arcy who broke the line to offload to Zane Kirchner, who in turn provided what was ultimately the try-scoring pass to Fitzgerald.
Here’s the video of that line-break from D’Arcy.
At the outset of this phase of play, Northampton aren’t actually in a bad defensive position. If they can communicate well in this situation, they have each attacker covered man-on-man. It is the inside pass decoy runner Kircher [circled below] who allows Leinster to cut through.
A subtle piece of attacking play puts doubt in the defenders’ heads and results in the line-break for D’Arcy. Watch the clip back and notice the little dummy inside pass from Madigan before he releases D’Arcy.
That action is enough to put doubt into Courtney Lawes’ mind as to who he should be tackling, and it appears likely that he got no communication from inside or chose to ignore it. The knock-on effect is that Waldouck also plants his feet and looks inwards to Madigan. That immediately opens up the space for D’Arcy and Leinster accurately convert the chance.
Kirchner and Fitzgerald then demonstrated what support play is all about, running into space and communicating exactly where they were in order to receive the pass. Another classy try by Leinster.
Repeat performance required
O’Connor’s men did score two other tries through Reddan and O’Driscoll. The first came about through the sheer sloppiness of Northampton’s defence, but the scrum-half deserves credit for his awareness to snipe through on the right fringe of a midfield ruck and then sidestep Pisi to score.
There was another glimpse of the Reddan’s intelligence on the occasion when he knocked on over the line [below]. Watch the scrum-half’s run after he passes the ball. The 33-year-old – like so many of his teammates – is alert and looking for another touch of the ball.
Unfortunately, Reddan overruns this one in his eagerness, but it was still a revealing glimpse of Leinster’s accuracy in running support lines.
Finally, O’Driscoll’s try was all about the pressure Leinster put on the Saints when they did try to attack. Jim Mallinder’s side resorted to attempting to play the ball out of their own half off scrappy possession and Leinster were only too happy to punish their lack of accuracy in the pass, a stark contrast to the visitors’.
This was the type of performance that made Leinster three-time champions. However, it seems unlikely that Northampton will be as poor again at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. O’Connor will need to ensure that the same domination of the collisions underpins his team’s effort and that their accuracy is of the same supreme standard.
