Leinster started as they meant to go on.
Early in Saturday’s URC final, their first carry saw Josh van der Flier knocked backwards. One negative phase was enough. Luke McGrath went to the air, launching the first of nine box kicks.
The next time Leinster had the ball, Jordie Barrett grubbered into Bulls territory. The kick in behind forced an error. Leinster won a scrum penalty and kicked into the 22. Jack Conan dotted down following a maul.
Five minutes in, Leinster refused to play inside their own half, forced errors with a swarming kick chase, dominated the set-piece and scored off a maul. They beat the South Africans at their own game.
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Back in January, this column pointed to a shift in Leinster’s style. The question posed centred on how Leinster would look come knockout rugby. At that point, the stats suggested they combined a Springbok brutality with their innate desire to still play more with the ball than without. Would this mix hold when trophies were on the line?
We got our answer on Saturday.
The hallmark of South African teams, both at domestic and international level, is a willingness to play without the ball. They are happy to kick aplenty, win the territorial battle and wrest set-piece supremacy. When the time comes, they utilise their pace out wide to take the rare opportunities on offer. No high phase counts.
Yet the Bulls finished Saturday with more carries than their hosts (106 vs 90). Leinster still made more clean breaks (10 vs 1) and post-contact metres (250 vs 222). Despite having less of the ball, the province entered the opposition 22 on 11 occasions. The Bulls did so just three times.
Forty-two kicks out of hand were launched by men in blue, kicking once for every 2.8 passes. The Bulls kicked 33 times, once for every 3.2 passes.
The set-piece? Leinster won all 12 of their lineouts. The Bulls lost three of their 18, with Ryan Baird pinching the first South African throw of the day. Leinster won the scrum penalty count 7-5.
Leinster took a leaf out of their book on Saturday, with all four of their tries coming within three phases
The surface level stats tell one story. Sometimes, digging deeper exposes the superficial numbers for exactly what they are. Not this time.
In the build-up to this final, analyst Ross Hamilton pointed out that the Bulls scored over 70 per cent of their tries within three phases. That’s the highest figure in the URC. Jake White’s side don’t need plenty of possession to do damage.
Leinster took a leaf out of their book on Saturday, with all four of their tries coming within three phases. Conan struck one phase after a maul. Barrett’s chip and chase from deep was a solitary phase after Jimmy O’Brien claimed a high ball. Van der Flier also scored off the back of a maul. Fintan Gunne’s effort came on first phase. After that score, the TV cameras caught Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber high-fiving attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal in recognition of his efficient backline concoction.
Leinster don’t have the cattle to mimic South African rugby directly. The Springboks had speedsters such as Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse ready to strike with limited ball in years gone by. The Bulls had Canan Moodie and Seb de Klerk on Saturday. Irish rugby is desperate for Tommy O’Brien to develop into a similar devastating runner, but it was Barrett with the magic moment on Saturday.
The All Black chased Luke McGrath’s clever chip, expertly placed short of the deep backfield cover, before brilliantly kicking in behind once again to score. If Leinster continue down this road of working limited but gilt-edged opportunities for strike runners, Rieko Ioane will be a very interesting addition.
Defensively, Leinster’s system under Nienaber has been discussed to the nth degree. But it was arguably as effective as it ever has been on Saturday. The Bulls, historically dangerous within three phases, were forced into long passages of play, runners being knocked back time and again.
The visiting pack as a whole made just 66 metres (Leinster’s made 155); their ploy of one-off runners thwarted by Leinster’s two, and often three-man tackles. They flooded collisions and breakdowns with bodies, creating chaos and forcing errors. Devoid of a plan B, when the Bulls tried to go wide, their feckless cross-kicks and floated passes were easily picked off.
That Leinster won a trophy (albeit not the one they wanted), in Nienaber’s second season, and beating a South African side at their own game, is noteworthy. But it is also an overly simple narrative.
Bath and Leicester, two kick-heavy teams, just contested the Premiership final. Bordeaux and France won a Champions Cup and Six Nations respectively by mixing power, astute territorial play and a devastating Louis Bielle-Biarrey/Damian Penaud tandem. Knockout rugby has long gone the way of teams who kick plenty, target the set-piece, defend ferociously and strike quickly with the ball.
Perhaps we should stop labelling Leinster’s new style as South African. It may be a stark contrast to the high phase count of yesteryear, but they’re simply adapting to modern rugby’s winning formula.
