Prognosis and diagnosis are unfamiliar words to leech into rugby discussions, but they were knocking around Leinster on Monday.
A doctor’s surgery conversation transported into the postmortem of Leinster’s recent outing against Leicester last weekend suggests something serious amiss.
Not at all. Two Champions Cup wins from two are hardly panic events. But the way Leinster won them, not looking at all fluid or playing with panache, is a team more slightly off-colour than critically ill.
Do Leinster’s misfires matter so long as they’re winning?
A bit of scrappy play, a few missed passes and balls going where they were not supposed to go or some of the world’s best players just out of position and Leinster’s calibration, their fine tuning was rarely on view.
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“It was a frustrating one where we weren’t converting some pretty clear opportunities,” says assistant coach Tyler Bleyendaal.
“We had a chat about that as a group. Sometimes it’s just an individual area, sometimes it’s a bit of composure, other times it is decision making.
“As a group we’ve got to be better because we created opportunities to score points and apply pressure. And even worse, so then we turn one over and they score the length of the field, so it’s like a double whammy.
“So definitely something we’ve identified as an area for improvement.”
With a fully loaded Ulster arriving on Friday for round seven of the United Rugby Championship (URC), Leinster will hope to iron out a few of the issues this week, most likely with a changed team.
But Bleyendaal is not unduly concerned and as long as the team keeps winning, the instinct is not to build mountains from molehills. The former outhalf sees the frustrations of last weekend as “isolated events”.
“Someone throws a ball into touch, another one we just miss an offload down an edge, another one we’re just losing the ball in contact,” he says. “I don’t think it’s necessarily concerning in regard to the team’s got an issue.
“It’s unfortunate that it happened that many times when we created so many nice things. We get back to work, and we make sure we work on our connections and combinations. We’ve got to work on our skill sets under pressure. We’ve got to make sure mentally we’re making good decisions.”
The block of games coming up are the usual are festive crackers with Ulster in Aviva this week followed by Munster in Thomond Park and then Connacht in Aviva Stadium on January 3rd.
All Black Rieko Ioane, just into his third week, has yet to get up to speed. His learning of the new environment and Leinster’s ability to bring him into games and maximise the use of his skillset will become more important as players go into Irish camp early next year.
A centre or wing he will play both positions depending on Leinster needs.
“I think he’ll no doubt play on the wing at some stage,” says Bleyendaal. “When he’s substituting for us, it’s always going to be an option.
“I don’t think we can pigeonhole him, especially the way we’ve got a few injuries in the outside back division at the minute.”
Jack Conan has come through the graduated return to play protocols following last weekend’s match.
The blindside flanker sustained his injury following a heavy collision with fullback Freddie Steward early in their Champions Cup match against Leicester. Conan subsequently failed his HIA with Max Deegan coming on to replace him.
However, Garry Ringrose, Jimmy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne and Hugo Keenan have not been declared fit for this week.
The good news is Ioane is coming into Leinster motivated after a frustrating period where he had to wait for his chance with the All Blacks. Leinster are agreed that they want him on the ball.
“Definitely, yeah. We want to touch the ball as much as possible,” says Bleyendaal. “He’s not looking to force it. He’s willing to do his job if it’s a decoy line or a clean out line or if he’s holding space. But when it’s time for him to get his hands on the ball, which he did a couple of times, he looked pretty dangerous.
“I thought he did well. His work off the ball is world class. He gets himself into good positions attacking and defensively. He’s probably still learning some guys’ names, to be honest.”
Either way Leinster are not sweating it. They’d like to be higher than sixth in the URC league table. But there’s time and matches and just like the Champions Cup, they are preferring to stay centred and believe the process will get them there.
The past has showed that it usually does.
“Other guys will get opportunities,” he says. “We’d like to be further up on the URC log, that’s for sure. But we are where we are.”
