Sitting in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening surrounded by Lansdowne under-10s provided me with a different perspective on the Leinster matchday experience. Some of those who attended benefited from the child discount offer. It swelled the numbers.
My son took a brief break from the chanting, heavily encouraged, which the kids absolutely loved, to ask me whether Leinster were definitely going to win this match. Given what was unfolding in front of us, it was a fair question.
The Lions, one place above Leinster in the table, in third before the match, still need to get something out of their clash with Munster this weekend. The turnaround in the Lions’ fortunes over the last 18 months has been impressive.
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I bumped into Jacques Fourie, the Lions defence coach, before the match. He and Jean de Villiers formed one of the most formidable centre partnerships South African rugby has produced; physically imposing and tactically astute.
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Curious about how coaches see the game, I asked him what has driven the change in the club’s fortunes. He explained that a large turnover of players, for various reasons, forced them to select younger men and build depth from within.
The challenge was getting experience into that group, and only now are they starting to see the fruits of that work, with the average cap number creeping above 50 for the first time. A squad not overly burdened by Springbok commitments, given consistent game time over the last three years, is beginning to show what it can do.
His philosophy is rooted in strong South African rugby fundamentals: set piece, physicality and playing to space when it presents itself. This season may come too soon for these youngsters from Johannesburg, but they are a fine example of coaching done well and of the benefit and reward that comes from backing youth.
One of the things I find difficult when attending a match when I’m not working is switching off the analytical part of the brain that is always looking for shape, space and trends. Thankfully, going with a group of under-10s recalibrates that quickly. The rugby matters, but the success of the day does not hinge on a result.
The moment that Mike McCarthy took the microphone to launch the prematch “Leinstertainment” the kids were hopping to the beat of his drum and fully invested in the Viking clap. The tackle/collision with/on Leo the Lion, the flames, the bodhrán ringing out over the tannoy to start a chant, it might feel slightly contrived from the commentary box, but in the thick of it the atmosphere is brilliant.
The only downside, which may well be an upside in the not-too-distant future, was that the Aviva felt too large for the occasion. The crowd was swallowed by the stadium. These matches will be a huge success when they return to the RDS.
The frenetic nature of the game kept everyone involved, end to end, scores, disallowed tries and a grandstand finish for Leinster to secure the bonus point and for the kids to sidestep their way out of the stadium. It has been a long time since I watched a match at pitch level and it offers a different perspective, less about team movement and shape, more about individual players, their scanning, their body language.
Jamie Osborne’s try happened right in front of our seats. The only thing missing was perhaps a touch of Simon Zebo’s razzmatazz, a flick of the foot to regather the ball before finishing. What it illustrated was the value of breaking the defensive line with footwork before offloading to a player in lateral support.
Jimmy O’Brien did the first part, creating the opportunity with his feet. Osborne read his body language to push through rather than look to secure the ruck. That moment might have drawn a wry smile from Fourie as he recognised a line he once ran himself to telling effect.
Too often, however, Leinster opted to build shape and then work through possession in passages that the Lions defence dealt with comfortably. The O’Brien and Osborne combination was a good example of why structure should be a guideline, not a hard-and-fast rule.
The individual decision to kick, run or pass within a system must be taken by someone who understands the moment and seizes it. O’Brien’s footwork at the line, his intent to offload, is only useful if the players around him recognise the opportunity simultaneously.
Which brings me to the more interesting tactical question Saturday raised. Too often Leinster’s first receiver was stationed deep behind the ruck or behind the first pod of forwards. While that position allows options on either side, it should be the change-up rather than the default starting point.
Sam Prendergast has become an early adopter of this deeper, later-switch approach, and there are echoes of Finn Russell in that. But where the Scot uses it as a weapon of misdirection, Prendergast has become a little too comfortable operating in the second line rather than as a genuine first receiver.
The result is that two or three passes are completed before he touches the ball, completed without genuinely engaging the inside defence. There was a notable shift in tempo when Ciarán Frawley moved to 10. The Skerries man was happier to play flat at the line, forcing defenders to commit earlier and Leinster benefited from a flurry of late tries.
Think back to the 2015 World Cup when Johnny Sexton was tempting players out of the defensive line before releasing his team-mates. Styles come and go, but at present rugby likes 10s engaging the defence as a genuine first receiver.
It is a tough place to exist, Sexton had all those scars back then; Jack Crowley, Mathieu Jalibert, Russell, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are all leading the way in the first receiver channel.
On Saturday the Ospreys arrive in Dublin, Jac Morgan’s last game before moving across the Severn Bridge to the English Premiership. Leo Cullen’s final tune-up – it doesn’t deflect from the fact that Leinster require a win for a better seeding in the knock-out phase of the United Rugby Championship – before the Champions Cup final hangs heavy with possibility.
To some extent those who get to play face the chance to make or break their case for Bilbao. Nobody in their right mind would forego that opportunity, so there’s plenty for which to play.
