RUGBY Leinster are masters of the backrow
Blues’ strength behind the scrum leads global game
DENIS LEAMY, Sean O’Brien and Stuart Lancaster have been teaching the back-row masterclasses at Leinster for the last while.
Leamy (Skills Coach 2021-22), O’Brien (Defence Coach 2022-) and Lancaster (Asst Coach 2016-23) have turned the Blues’ back-row group into a Tactical Elite, coveted the world over.
This force contains four Ireland stars; Irish captain-in-waiting Caelan Doris, 2022 World Player of the Year Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan and Ryan Baird.
This week the club has re-signed Will Connors (inset) and Max Deegan while Scott Penny’s 32 tries in 72 games comes out at close to a try for every 66 minutes played.
There isn’t a back-row unit like this anywhere; not at Super Rugby kingpins Blues and Hurricanes — who meet this weekend — nor at the Top 14 aristocrats Toulouse.
Excluding Peter O’Mahony, Ireland coach Andy Farrell hasn’t started a non-Leinster player in a back-row spot other than Kildareborn, Connacht-based Cian Prendergast and Dublin-born, Ulsterbased Nick Timoney since the summer of 2021.
Bolstered
Leinster are clearly Full Metal Jacket in this area, bolstered by the legacy/combination of Leamy/Lancaster/O’Brien — their very own team of Gunnery Sergeant Hartmans from the same-titled film!
“They all had good insight on the game,” says the 28-year-old Connors, who played such a big part when picked to start while Leinster deployed a six-two bench against La Rochelle in the Champions Cup quarterfinal.
“They all had their own little edge, their particular parts of the game. Ultimately it all came together in a bigger picture and there are different things I would have taken from each of them from a back-row point of view.”
O’Brien is the Master and Commander these days at the Blues, still only 37 and still playing a bit with his beloved Tullow RFC.
He retains to this day, notes Connors, a noticeable presence when he steps across the white line onto a training pitch.
“Seanie has been excellent all through the years, look at his Lions tours in 2013 and 2017 and his carrying.
“When he talks about carrying now, there are little cues he is able to give you, how when he is coming across the line, he’s gliding, gliding, looking for a hole and then ‘bang!’ and into it.
“It seems simple messaging but when you see first-hand how effective it is, how good he was, it’s true.”
The Tullow Tank played all three spots across the back-row, but his favourite shirt was the no7 belonging to the open-side flanker — indeed, he played 70 per cent of his senior games there, 20 per cent at no8 and the remaining 10 per cent at blindside no 6.
“He is big on work-rate and will tell you the no7 has to be the fittest, they have to be able to withstand the whole game and
ONE STEP FROM GLORY: Josh van der Flier celebrates after the game with Jack Conan last weekend as rhe Blues booked their place in the Champions Cup decider he really drove that into all of us, myself Scott, Josh.
“You want to strive to be the fittest players in there because you want to work around the corner. When everyone is gassed you need to be the one getting around the corner, continuously getting off the line.”
Munster-based through his playing days and back as defence coach at the Reds these days, Leamy doubled as a no6 and a no8 on the pitch.
Contact
Continues Connors of the 42-year-old: “Leams worked a lot on the contact side and he had a good connection with the technique element of it.
“He was always pushing hard, talked that 90 per cent of the breakdown and the tackle is your mindset and wanting to impose yourself physically on the other player so from that side he was great.