There is liable to be a whiff of cordite in the air at next Saturday’s reprise of last season’s URC semi-final at the Aviva Stadium when, fittingly, Leinster will evidently be locked and fully loaded.
Having welcomed back nine of their World Cup front-liners for last Saturday’s 54-5 win over the Scarlets, Jack Conan and Robbie Henshaw could both be seen training fully on Tuesday and look set to make their seasonal re-appearances against Munster, with Ross Byrne and Tadhg Furlong set to start as well.
Assistant coach Andrew Goodman confirmed that the province has “pretty much a full roster”, with Cian Healy, Ed Byrne and Mike Milne also back training, albeit Tommy O’Brien (ankle), Cormac Foley (shoulder), John McKee (hamstring), Luke McGrath (knee) and Alex Soroka (foot) are still sidelined.
Regarding Conan and Henshaw - who hasn’t played since Ireland’s pool win over South Africa over eight weeks ago - Goodman said: “They are both looking in good condition and hungry to get a bit of time.”
Goodman was speaking after Leinster’s well-attended open training session in Kilkenny College as part of their ‘12 County Tour’, which will see them stay overnight in Carlow before having a closed session there on Tuesday.
Leinster’s first interpro of the season comes five weeks after Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final exit against the All Blacks, but by contrast Goodman himself was back with the province after being co-opted onto the Samoan coaching ticket, just two days after their pool exit. Not that he was complaining.
“I really appreciated Leinster giving me the opportunity to go over there and compete in a World Cup, so I wanted to make sure I came back here, especially with Jacques [Nienaber] going deep into the tournament, and get my feet under the table with Leinster.”
Goodman praised the work which was done in Leinster’s pre-season by Emmet Farrell, Kieran Hallett and Sean O’Brien and the rest of the coaching staff.
“There was a definite shift in the group and there’s been some great growth in that younger group. They’ve had more time to get reps and more one-on-one time with smaller numbers.”
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O’Brien, Leinster’s contact skills coach, has been in charge of their defence pending the arrival of Nienaber, with Goodman’s role also having evolved since Stuart Lancaster moved on to Racing 92.
“Last season Stuart was doing unstructured, both sides of the ball, and I was doing structured, both sides of the ball, the starter plays off scrums and lineouts, and some of the defensive work off set-piece as well.
“This season, the model has changed in that I’ve been leading the attack and Jacques will be leading the defence. So, probably a more traditional model that other clubs would tend to have.”
With the talent at their disposal, Goodman is clearly enthused by his added attacking responsibilities.
“That’s my passion and I love the mindset of our players, the mindset that Leinster has had around using the ball and attacking the game of rugby. It’s extremely exciting and I need to evolve with that extra challenge. We can’t [sit] still because everyone around us is getting better, so we need to get better as well.”
Goodman already had a good sense of the Leinster-Munster rivalry from his two seasons as a centre at the RDS from 2012 to 2014, having experienced the Thomond Park atmosphere in April 2013.
“It was a great experience because my parents were over for that game.
We had Gordon D’Arcy and [Brian] O’Driscoll starting in the midfield, so not a bad midfield! But D’Arce went down after about five minutes, so I got a good chunk of that game.
“It was one of those ones you’re not ready, you’re just sitting back watching and then ‘F**k’, here we go!’ Drico actually scored in the last couple of minutes to win the game.”
“It was amazing. It was one of the better experiences I ever had as a player, playing in front of a crowd like that. We actually stayed down that night. It was cool to feel the buzz after the game, had a couple of beers and enjoyed the night down there.”
Goodman had been in Thomond Park before, as an All Blacks supporter when they were memorably hosted by Munster and won 18-16 with a late Joe Rokocoko try. “So, I kinda knew what it was going to be like. But to play there was really cool.”
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Watching the current Munster incarnation, Goodman praised their “outstanding” defence and the work done by Denis Leamy, noting how they fill the width of the pitch and have “multiple threats” at the breakdown.
“So carry and clean is going to be critical for us this week to make sure we can get that repeated pressure with ball in hand, but being really smart with our kick game as well to change the picture.”
Goodman was not inclined to lie that there is extra motivation within the squad arising from last May’s semi-final loss to Munster at the same ground.
“We are only on day one but there is a definite edge to today, probably more so than there has been. Again, Leinster-Munster doesn’t need more than that, but there is still hurt from the end of last year. It’s about making sure we channel that in the right way.
“It’s about this season and the journey and winning week-to-week. It’s an exciting block coming up that we have got, up until December 26th when we play them again. We have got three interpros and two European games, so that’s pretty exciting in itself.”
