When Matt Williams arrived to coach Leinster in the autumn of 1999, there was a look of either shock or horror, or perhaps most likely a combination of the two, on his face. I had previously met him in Australia in June of that year.
We watched an Aussie Rules match where the Sydney Swans’ Tony ‘Plugger’ Lockett, with his third goal of nine in a match against Collingwood, moved past Gordon Coventry’s total of 1,299 and into the record books.
During the game, I told Matty that I played rugby for Leinster, which as a statement at the time would have put me in the bragging backpacker category. I occasionally wonder if that look of shock when he landed in Ireland was a stark realisation of the size of the challenge he faced, not just with an oversized and bleached-haired version of me, but with Leinster in general.
Watching the chaos that unfolded over the weekend, as ice and a light dusting of snow compromised the travel plans of the Leinster and Ulster teams and their supporters, it reminded me of one of the many times that Matty would try and use imagery or a story to illustrate a point that hadn’t hit home with the group in the way he’d hoped or intended.
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Travelling for teams can be a tricky thing to get right; and Leinster, like a lot of teams, did not manage this for a long time. Heading to France usually required a longer flight and, inevitably, a decent-sized bus journey.
Matty liked to use the Australian women’s basketball team as an example of preparing mentally for something going wrong when travelling. Their modus operandi, should a delay materialise, was to replace any negative feelings with positive actions: reading a book, stretching, playing cards, things of that nature.
Giving people tools is one thing, the understanding of how and why to use them is quite another
In essence, it was about accepting the situation and not allowing any inconvenience to derail a performance. So, for our trip to France, you couldn’t move for books and cards, though unfortunately the result did not follow. Giving people tools is one thing, the understanding of how and why to use them is quite another.
Leinster still had some road to travel in unlocking an environment where we could move from being spoon-fed on to solids without spitting up. There is no doubt that it was beneficial, but it was not really until Michael Cheika arrived that Leinster fully focused on the bigger picture in terms of resilience.
In our breakthrough season, there was a lot of emphasis put on “being ready” and the theme around that related “touching the white fence”. The “white fence” drill was a high-performance cognitive test to basically establish if athletes could block out extraneous influences while charged with completing a task.
The original drill challenged four huge NFL linemen to run a trail in the Florida swamps and touch a white fence: nine minutes out, nine minutes back. They were warned to keep an eye out for alligators in the adjoining canals that fed into the swamps, poisonous snakes that might be sunning themselves on the trail, and huge wild boars with sharp tusks that would charge anyone.
Those who set up the task had a couple of colleagues hiding, one of whom rustled a bush and made oinking sounds as the players ran past. The athletes turned tail and fled. When the same experiment was carried out with FBI hostage negotiators, they never wavered from the goal of touching the white fence.
What we derived from it was that, rather than trying to prepare for every possible situation, there had to be an acknowledgment that there would be disruption in the season, and whatever it was, we would not let it derail from our path. The rest was left to individual responsibility.
There was a template for this long before Leinster unlocked that box: Munster in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While we were at the painting-by-numbers stage, Munster were winning clutch matches, building that internal belief and resilience for big moments to come.
There were flickers of encouragement from Thomond Park on Sunday. The result in the context of the season will be largely unimportant. The manner of the loss will be where coach Graham Rowntree will focus this week.
Performance levels have been building week on week since the South Africa A win. You can see the incremental improvements, the way the team are trying to play. It’s not a one-off like last season’s knockout heartbreak against Toulouse. This showed something a little different, something more sustainable.
I have already said that this will be a tough season to watch and support Munster. Defeats like Sunday’s are tough, as victory can appear within grasping distance, but that’s not a fair assessment of the gap between the two teams.
Toulouse were able to score while not playing particularly well. They played in fits and starts. Munster’s capacity to sustain the intensity required to beat teams like Toulouse isn’t there just yet, but Joey Carbery’s try demonstrated what is possible and that they are on the right road.
Moments like those will need to be bookended by error-free periods to sustain pressure on the opposition. Toulouse were afforded too much latitude to travel the length of the field unchecked and, at the first time of asking, Ange Capuozzo and Thomas Ramos combined to send Matthis Lebel over in the corner.
It was a classic example of top-class back play, the timing of the run, spatial awareness and the “simple” catch and pass. I’m sure Stephen Aboud would tip his cap to the young Italian, Capuozzo, who developed through the Under-20s in Italy under the Irishman’s guidance.
Leinster’s travel disruption offered a ready-made excuse to underperform against Racing 92 in Le Havre, but they were properly attuned mentally and physically
A key for Munster is to keep making incremental improvements and that applies to their trip to Northampton next Sunday. They’re certainly capable of winning but for medium and long-term development, the performance must be of a requisite standard.
Leinster’s travel disruption offered a ready-made excuse to underperform against Racing 92 in Le Havre, but they were properly attuned mentally and physically, something that will give the coaches and playing group huge satisfaction.
I can’t help feeling that Racing might have been lulled into a false sense of security, with no Johnny Sexton or Tadhg Furlong, and Twitter avidly detailing Leinster’s travel woes. Perhaps the match was lost at that point, as the Parisian club expected distracted opponents whom they would be able to dominate in the way to which they have become accustomed recently in the Top 14.
In Sexton’s absence, Jamison Gibson-Park took full control of proceedings again, underlining how important he is to Irish rugby. It wasn’t until the bonus point had been scored that Leinster looked to replace their half-backs.
The visitors were very efficient with possession at set pieces and produced excellent ball presentation, facilitating ruck speed and quality from which Gibson-Park was able to dictate the tempo of the match.
He had runners coming onto the ball at pace, and that ensured the Racing defence had to be a little more passive. Static defenders with players of the calibre of Caelan Doris, James Lowe and Dan Sheehan running at them was never going to end well for the home side.
Gibson-Park’s array of passes and decisions perfectly complemented that quick ruck ball. He invariably made the right choice about when to quickly release, when to pick and run, when to change direction or when to fire a pass over the top, as was the case for Sheehan’s try.
The point is that if he is constantly taking different options, the attack becomes unpredictable, and as a result defences will struggle. The combination between Lowe and Gibson-Park is superb to watch, with the former’s growing influence on the game of key importance.
I’m not sure if the move was designed to target Finn Russell, defending at 13, but when Lowe accelerated, leaving the Racing out-half grasping at thin air for Garry Ringrose’s try, it effectively killed off the match. The only thing outstanding was the bonus point which followed.
This is not a win with which Leinster will get carried away. The old cliché about no trophies being handed out in December is true, but it is possible to have to bin your aspirations in defeat. Leinster will look to build on this momentum against Gloucester on Friday night at the RDS.
The potential for a banana-skin slip is less likely, given the ruthlessness shown last weekend. One quirk about a truly ruthless team is that they respect the opposition enough to score what is on offer. That’s the mindset Leinster will bring.
