So what are we?
We’ll find out soon enough. Monday, to be precise. The Munster vs Leinster rivalry, such as it is, could be described as being in a bad place as of the end of last season. We are no longer “like for like” rivals as we could have been described in the mid to late 2000s or for a period between 2013 and 2017. This game used to be called the “O’Classico”, a fairly ham-fisted reference to the Real Madrid and Barcelona rivalry but, ham-fisted though it was, it fit. This was the biggest game in club rugby for a while and, while it still has elements of that prestige, it’s not contested on anything close to even terms and that isn’t good for anyone.
The rugby environment that we have in this country needs a balance between Munster and Leinster. When it was imbalanced in Munster’s favour, we got breathless, curdling folk stories that turned every other player into a combination of Fionn mac Cumhaill and Christy Ring while all playing for the honour of De Parish while Leinster were enervated, champagne charlie bottle jobs. Neither was true, but that’s what results allowed the media to believe and spread around like slurry.
In the last few years, it’s gone completely the other way when it comes to narrative. Leinster are treated with a kind of reverence typically reserved for Elon Musk by that weird subset of anime fans who are also really into crypto.
Did Leinster just lose a Champions Cup final in the last minute having led all game long?
Irish Rugby Media:
Sign a Munster player that you whined for weeks about when Munster signed them? Shrewd business, Sir Leo. Complain about project players for years but then stop the minute Leinster gets two project players into the Irish team? Sublime.
On the other side of it, Munster are portrayed as the floundering, bumbling, perenially bamboozled woe cavern of Irish rugby perenially handing over their cash to a parade of wallet inspectors.
Neither are true, but results have allowed the media to perpetuate both narratives. This is like a lake that has become too acidic because the natural balance is off. Who’s to blame for that? Munster.
We’re the ones who’ve been losing these games repeatedly to the point of near monotony.
There are a myriad of reasons for that, of course, and I’ve gone over them for years but facts are facts – we’ve lost our last three home games to them by an average of more than a converted try. The last loss in Thomond Park was one of the worst games I’ve ever covered while doing Three Red Kings. Munster were inaccurate, Munster were slow but, worst of all, Munster were scandalously soft.
Van Graan is a better coach than we looked that day, but that loss to Leinster encapsulated all the worst parts of his Munster. We were contorted into whatever shape we felt might trip up Leinster and we got stuck where the sun doesn’t shine.
We went someway to answering for that humiliation – and others – with our performance earlier this season up in the Aviva but this is Thomond Park.
There are things that need to be answered for. For Leinster, sure, but more importantly for us.
Leinster Rugby: 15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Jordan Larmour, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Jamie Osborne, 11. James Lowe; 10. Ross Byrne, 9. Nick McCarthy; 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Dan Sheehan, 3. Cian Healy, 4. Ryan Baird, 5. Joe McCarthy, 6. Rhys Ruddock, 7. Scott Penny, 8. Max Deegan
Replacements: 16. John McKee, 17. Michael Milne, 18. Vakhtang Abdaladze, 19. Ross Molony, 20. Jack Conan, 21. Luke McGrath, 22. Harry Byrne, 23. Liam Turner
Leinster are the biggest lineout maul team in the United Rugby Championship.
If you can stop Leinster from earning incremental penalties on back-to-back possessions, you can go some way to limiting their ability to move up the field and score the points that hurt you. Go back to the Champions Cup final from last year against La Rochelle and what’s the biggest factor in Leinster’s initial surge in that game? It was La Rochelle’s maul defence conceding multiple side entry penalties so even though they knew they had the heft to stuff Leinster there, they kept letting them advance up the field and that led to a rake of early points.
Leinster’s first phase attack is their primary method of scoring. This season they have scored 16 tries directly from the lineout which is almost always a mid or close-range maul finish. How do they earn these positions? They win more penalties than anyone else in the opposition’s half of the field.
This is generated through counter-transition play, as I’ve been over a few times while covering Leinster but to put it basically they kick long, they chase hard, they are aggressive in defence over the halfway line to pressure your passing and attempt to play from deep, and they are really good on the first two or three phases post-transition if you kick long to Keenan or Larmour.
You can attempt to limit Leinster’s counter-transition game with well-targeted contestable kicks to stymie their pace on transition – especially if you want to squeeze Ross Byrne’s running ability. What we want is to squeeze Leinster on that second phase of transition by shooting hard on Ngatai, Lowe and Ringrose to force Byrne into attacking directly himself.
But we don’t want to use up our possession that way either even though I’m sure we will initially to try to stymie Leinster’s high PPC starter game.
The big one is defending Leinster at the lineout. We have to be wary of their five and six-man schemes, in particular, especially when Leinster feel they can get access to our #10/#12 channel.
This one is a particular Leinster favourite.
But look at the principles of their core three-man unit which, on Monday, will be Baird, McCarthy and Ruddock. A lot of their front and centre-line movement is based on this interchange with each member getting used at least once, and Deegan rotating in as a front jumper.
The key to Leinster’s lineout is understanding how they use their power when they start their primary maul build.
What is the common starter position on those maul builds? The front of the middle. Leinster do play off the tail every now and then but most of their core action is built off the maul directly or the maul feint which almost always starts in that same one-metre space. The jumpers change but the position rarely varies until you can force Leinster off-scheme.
For Munster, the key is to compete hard on the initial Leinster lineout – two pods in the air – to stress Sheehan’s throw, yes, but to stress Leinster’s calling of the lineout. Leinster have Ross Molony on the bench who’s a good caller – far from the genius he’s made out to be, but he knows Leinster’s menu well – but they’ve started with Baird and McCarthy. Will they call the lineout? They might, but I think they might use Ruddock for that. McCarthy is the “heavier” of the two locks so I’d expect him to be kept as a mauler, primarily – that “drive” spot behind the touchline pillar specifically – with Baird used as the main athletic lineout target.
Leinster will be aware of that read so I think a lot of the early calls in this game will probably go to Ruddock in that middle spot with McCarthy either cutting out at the front of five-man schemes or transiting on six/seven-man schemes. What does that leave? Munster jumping at the front with a one-man lift on the spot behind McCarthy and squeezing the middle with a two-man lift of Beirne on Ruddock and Baird’s action.
If we can disrupt Leinster there early in between the 10m lines, we can put pressure on their lineout caller to go to more expansive schemes, which will pressure their ability to build the 3-3 and 3-4 maul shapes that they use to score the majority of their points.
Handle their counter-transition plays – namely, avoid competing at the breakdown on their first few phases post-transition on all but the most obvious rucks and stay active in the line with two-man stops to force Nick McCarthy to kick – and be brave at the lineout and you can off-ball Leinster effectively.
When they kick to us, we have to nuke Porter on OUR first few phases of transition and look to pressure Leinster with multi-phase possession.
Be brave. Be aggressive. Be hard.
That’s how we win this game.
