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There’s loads of ways of comparing this Leinster display to that of the national team last Sunday…excellent defence, several knockons, opposition not playing great, strong start to second half.
But there was one major difference…Jason Harris-Wright’s wayward dart towards the end was just the final insult of an uncharacteristic 80 minutes when we couldn’t even buy a meaningful score.
And although Cardiff were the home side and need success in this competition more than we do, I have to question the coaching calls for the loss.
Joe Schmidt has worked hard to develop an ethos of attacking rugby throughout this squad, but from the looks of our approach when we had the ball in the early stages, seemed to abandon it because of the wealth of experience in our front five.
Now even in the darkest early times of last September I defended him, but I think the coach dropped the ball in Cardiff City Stadium yesterday. The type of game he has brought to Leinster is a joy to watch and it is designed to produce tries, but if he is to be in charge of such a large squad of players he has to trust them ALL to be able to execute the game plan whatever the competition, whoever the opponent is and wherever the ballpark is.
Andrew Conway has shown with his try-scoring for the A side that he is ready for the top level, so why not get him the ball more often? He had just the one chance in Cardiff, and but for a matter of inches could have been making the headlines on Sunday morning.
Instead Leinster put all their eggs in the defensive basket, and sure, they made Cardiff work like Trojans to barely get the one try in the corner from the impressive Dan Fish (pic) but the effort came at too heavy a price.
As things turned out, it was a senseless penalty from Dominic Ryan that denied us even a losing bonus, but the guy had run his socks off up to then making tackles and clearing rucks. I predicted we would lose this match but only on the basis that the home side had a superior back row. Messrs Ryan, Ruddock and McLoughlin (and Keogh when he came on) proved me wrong on that score.
It was just whenever we had the ball, we looked like a right-handed team using our left hand.
To say Cardiff were “aggressive” in defence of the breakdown is being very kind, to the referee that is. They should have had at least two yellows and more penalties called as well, and that’s down to the inexperienced ref.
But that doesn’t excuse the countless times the ball was poorly protected after the tackle, and that, to me anyway, is a sign of a unit trying something different and failing.
I honestly believe we didn’t need a perfect defence to win. The Schmidt brand is good, it produces points, and when it works, it produces more points than the opposition. If the McKinleys and Madigans and Conways are the future for Leinster then I’d like to see them trying it, and if they STILL fail then at least they’re young enough to improve.
But this defeat is not a disaster. We have dropped to 4th but that slide could, and if we return to the style we’re comfortable with should, be reversed after our upcoming home games against Treviso and the Scarlets.
We can’t expect either side to lay down and die for us at the RDS, but we should at least expect the calibre of rugby we’ve grown accustomed to this season from Leinster rugby.
