Leinster blessed to have a fierce fight for places, says Contepomi
IT is easy to take Leinster’s ability to fight on two fronts for granted, yet there was something about last Saturday’s win in Glasgow that stood out from the pack.
Despite providing the majority of players to Ireland’s World Cup effort, Leo Cullen’s men have yet to suffer a defeat this season.
Their schedule is relentless, with the trip to Scotland coming in between four rounds of Europe, with three interprovincial derbies on the way over the festive period and the last two pool games scheduled in January.
So, the head coach made 15 changes to his starting team, resting his front-liners without waving a white flag. Despite the new personnel, they prevailed.
And yet, the return of the Champions Cup means many of those who starred at Scotstoun will be relegated to All-Ireland League action this weekend and will have to wait until the pre-Christmas clash with Ulster — when the Ireland players are in camp — to stake a claim.
This week’s trip to Franklin’s Gardens is a daunting one against an in-form Northampton Saints team and the experience of the internationals will be key.
Coach Felipe Contepomi said: “We are lucky and wealthy in terms of how tough the competition is within the squad. For us it is not a question of just setting up a team, we want to put the best and the strongest team on the pitch every weekend.
“There are some guys and they are coming in fresh, you see them in training and they are eager to go out and play a game.
“You select them and they perform and then you have some other guys that didn’t play and they are fresh (and eager) — that’s how rotation goes.
“You can make that rotation. Weareluckythatwehavealotof competition for every place and we are able to do that rotation without a dent in performance.
“We try to fit in the best player for that game and that we do it with every position. Then you get the best, or we try to get the best team to represent Leinster.”
AS we witnessed some sharp skills from Ulster in last Friday’s opening halfhour, it seems a fair enough call to bring out Dan Soper as things shift up a few gears for Europe and Saturday’s visit of Harlequins.
The genial Kiwi, who joined Ulster’s backroom staff as a skills coach from RBAI in 2018, has been grafting away with the squad and the fruits of his labour appear to be showing some promising returns.
Soper’s influence on the squad has already been highlighted by John Cooney and it is no rare thing for other players to cite his input on raising standards and instilling belief.
He works on what may appear basic things — passing, catching and kicking — but with the emphasis very much on improving mindsets and creating pressurised moments in training as a means of lifting execution and accuracy.
“We like to challenge everybody to get better and we put a big emphasis on individuals working on their individual skill,” said Soper, who is normally found at pitch-side during games.
“Catch, pass, kick, breakdown work, tackle technique, the emphasis is on everyone to try and improve those nuts and bolts that hold the big picture together.
“The guys work hard at it and if you look closely at last Friday night (against the Scarlets) there were times in the second half when some of our catchpass didn’t look bad but was just enough on the back hip to check guys from taking that half-metre.
“If you give the likes of (Robert) Baloucoune, (Jacob) Stockdale or (Craig) Gilroy, or any of these guys, that half-metre they can really nail it.”
Still, that opening half against the west Wales region was pretty good, 24 unanswered points offering up plenty of evidence that backs coach Dwayne Peel’s attacking plays can cause problems and
THERE have been several snapshots of the renewed confidence and vigour with which Munster are currently playing, but few examples summed it up better than the way they secured a draw against Racing 92 a fortnight ago.
With the clock having just ticked past the 74th minute, the pressure was on to deliver and as Munster pounded away at the Racing line, a bit of creativity deep in the ‘red zone’ unlocked the door.
Setting up with a pod of three forwards to the right of the ruck, it looked as though the pack were going to keep it tight and bash their way over the line.
It’s a fair assumption to neatly dovetail with Soper’s skills work.
“Peely did a really good job last week in identifying where space was going to be and then I worked with the kickers,” said Soper. “They all kick most days and they’ll do a designated kick session on our ‘down-type’ day.
“They put a lot of time into the technique of the kicks and the repetition of getting it right and then come game day it’s up to all 15 guys to identify if that space is where we thought it was going to be and then go after it.”
Stuart McCloskey even got in on the act, his dink over the top of the Scarlets defence creating just enough for Matt Faddes to score Ulster’s first try of the evening.
And cross-kicks, a bit of a speciality for Billy Burns with Bill Johnston also able to deliver this defence-busting tactic, will also be seen this weekend as a means of giving Quins problems.
With tall wingers such as Stockdale and Baloucoune out wide, an accurate cross-kick can be a very dangerous weapon, though, as Soper points out, the player going after the kick has a job to do as well.
“They’ve (wingers) still got to commit to being in the right place and go after the ball in the air and hope the kicker has put the ball on the money,” he said.
Finding space with delicate and accurate kicking has become an effective way of unlocking the game’s highly organised defences and Quins are one of those sides renowned for their work without the ball.
“It’s (kick-passing and cross-kicking) certainly an evolving part of the game globally,” Soper explained.
“The way defences are working now, they have 14 players in the front-line and so that space