Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories AnalysisAttack Leinster have notched 155 points, 50 breaks, and 61 offloads in three games There has been good planning and excellent skill level involved in the recent big wins. 8.38pm, 23 Apr 2025 Share options IN THEIR LAST three games, Leinster have scored a combined 155 points. There have been 50 linebreaks and a whopping 61 offloads. Their fairly muted reactions show that Leinster aren’t getting carried away with themselves. Nothing is won. They know that they will still have to face tougher defences than those offered by Harlequins, Glasgow, and Ulster in recent weeks. And yet, it has been a delight to watch Leinster picking teams apart with a combination of good planning, physicality, and excellent skill level. It’s the sheer variety of Leinster’s attack that has impressed as much as anything. When you reckon you’ve got the fringes of the rucks well stocked, they’ll hit you out wide. When you sense that your frontline defence is in good shape, they’ll find backfield space. Focus on maul defence and they’ll break off with a clever move. Leave the maul numbers low and they’ll drive over your line. Deny them space on the ground and they will go to the sky. Turn the ball over cheaply and they will punish you. It makes sense that Leinster would work hard on their skills around turnover attack, given how many turnovers Jacques Nienaber’s defence tends to win. Leinster now look like a team who spend plenty of training time focusing on their transition attack. Their players appear comfortable in seeking space after the ball is regained, regardless of the number on their back. In the instance below, Andrew Porter has won a breakdown turnover, so Caelan Doris steps in at scrum-half and Josh van der Flier throws a brilliant skip pass to send Sam Prendergast racing into space. Leinster are instantly in behind a Glasgow defence that is already trying to react to turning the ball over. They never recover as Garry Ringrose scores two phases later. This snappy reaction to moments when the game breaks up is becoming characteristic of Leinster. Below, scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park pounces on the loose ball, skillfully scooping it up from the ground before offloading to Hugo Keenan. Keen not to let Harlequins recover in any way, Gibson-Park hurries to the breakdown and picks out a superb pass. We can see below that Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw are both signalling for the ball. Ringrose might be the more obvious first receiver, but Gibson-Park is keen to stretch Quins again. So he fizzes the ball across the face of Ringrose and out in front Henshaw, inviting him to run onto it. With Harlequins struggling to regain defensive shape, Gibson-Park’s pass helps to expose them as Henshaw is able to drag opposite number Ben Waghorn out towards him before playing the inside pass to Ringrose. Leinster’s comfort in space is then apparent as Ringrose floats the ball wide to Jamie Osborne, who finds van der Flier and takes a return offload as he slaloms infield to finish. These are all top-class players, so it’s no surprise they’re able to take these chances, but the level of confidence in their passing and offloading does suggest a renewed focus on those skills in training. The handling skills are helping Leinster to find solutions on most occasions. In the example above, van der Flier comes up with a clever basketball-style pass over the defender to free Dan Sheehan for a try against Glasgow. It’s nice skill from van der Flier, but it’s worth noting how James Lowe’s movement helps to create the space too. Lowe, who has started as part of the lineout at the very front, initially shapes to come infield around the back of the dummy maul set-up, which helps to lure the defensive +1, hooker Grant Stewart, over to that side. But Lowe then darts back into the shortside as van der Flier breaks there, with that Leinster pair drawing the two shortside defenders. All of which leaves Sheehan in space as he holds near the touchline after his lineout throw. Van der Flier finds the solution to send the hooker over. This score comes directly from a set-piece and is planned. But even in the transition elements of the game, we’re seeing Leinster unleash lots of schemes that have clearly been discussed pre-game. Take the momentum-changing Tommy O’Brien try against Ulster last weekend after Leinster receive a kick. The Ulster box kick is slightly too long to be contestable and Leinster wing Jimmy O’Brien does well to catch and immediately dish the ball off for fullback Osborne to return with intent. Osborne gets over his own 10-metre line to kick-start a clinical counter-attack. On the next phase, three Leinster forwards [green below] show to the right of the breakdown, with Jimmy O’Brien [red] popping up behind them. This is not unusual in rugby, with many teams running pods of three forwards off scrum-half, with a back loaded in behind. But the play that Leinster use here is unusual as scrum-half Luke McGrath passes to the widest forward, Scott Penny, who then squares up and pops a tip-in pass to O’Brien accelerating forward from that starting position behind the forwards. Ulster are still trying to get into defensive shape after the transition of possession and this unfamiliar shape doesn’t make their lives any easier. O’Brien breaks a tackle attempt from Ulster out-half Jack Murphy, who has just been involved in the tackle on Osborne seconds ago. Now Leinster are motoring as they look to get outside Ulster wide on the right. Out-half Ciarán Frawley [red above] is the obvious recipient of the next pass from McGrath but again, Leinster go to the second set of hands in Henshaw [green above]. We can see how Frawley gets his hands up as if to receive the ball, further selling it to Ulster, while back row Alex Soroka is showing on Frawley’s inside as well, ensuring Ulster have another concern close to the breakdown. The combined effect is that Henshaw has time to find Ringrose and the outside centre has the skill level to offload as Ulster fullback Mike Lowry closes up and in aggressively, looking to stop the ball. Tommy O’Brien has the pace to stretch away from the despairing tackle attempt of Jacob Stockdale. His finish is outstanding. Advertisement It initially looks like O’Brien might have put too much on his chip kick, but he scorches forward on the chase and beats the turning Nathan Doak to recollect the ball and dot down. It’s a cracking score from Leinster in the space of 23 seconds from Jimmy O’Brien’s catch of the kick to Tommy O’Brien’s finish. The intricacies suggest it’s a planned play from Leinster and the skill level is clear again. Attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal’s plans for Leinster’s set-piece attack from scrums and lineouts have also been working smoothly in recent weeks. They’ve cleverly been layering up in this regard, adding new wrinkles that defenders are struggling to deal with. In the instance below, we see second row Joe McCarthy making an inside pass on second phase of a lineout attack. Caelan Doris has just carried on first phase from the left-hand-side lineout when Leinster bounce back to their left in an ’11′ pattern. Gibson-Park goes out the back of RG Snyman to find McCarthy, which is not entirely unexpected for the Glasgow defence. They’ve seen Leinster and Ireland use McCarthy as a rampaging strike runner on second phase of several set-piece attacks in recent years. The new layer is that McCarthy has Lowe popping up on his inside shoulder so that when the defenders overcommit to McCarthy, he can slip Lowe into space. Like many other teams, Leinster have been using ‘stack’ plays from lineouts, whereby players come around the corner and are briefly in a vertical line, as below with hooker John McKee and lock Snyman. In many instances, including the one above, the hooker will be at the front of a two-man stack and their job is often to dart at the line, tying down fringe defenders and creating space for the player behind them to carry. Again, Leinster have been layering up with this type of play. In the example below against Harlequins, we see them insert Lowe into what is a three-man stack with their hooker, Sheehan, now at the back of the stack. McCarthy is also surging up on the inside to provide another threat to the Harlequins defence on second phase of the lineout attack. As we see below, Gibson-Park goes out the back of van der Flier and Lowe to Sheehan, who then gets a one-on-one. Though Sheehan is stopped, his hands are free for an offload to Prendergast. With Harlequins having had to address so many options close to the breakdown, they’re now numbers down and out-half Prendergast expertly exploits the situation. Prendergast darts forward with the ball in two hands and ‘double pumps,’ dummying a wider pass to ensure Quins centre Oscar Beard sits off, all the while drawing in two defenders as he delays and releases a short pass for Jack Conan to make the linebreak. Leinster are in behind and never take their foot off the throat, with Sheehan instrumental in them getting over the line. Gibson-Park loves operating in shortsides like the one above, where he can magnify numbers-up scenarios with his strong decision-making and passing. Here, he floats a bridge pass out to Sheehan, whose power nearly takes him all the way. Prendergast seals the deal on the next phase. Players like Sheehan make Leinster’s attack more dangerous because they have such a broad range of skills. The Ireland hooker can run over you, beat you for pace on the outside, or use his handling skills to great effect. He’s not the only one with a varied skillset and it makes elements of Leinster’s attack interchangeable. One of the recurring themes of their attack recently has been accurate offloading. Being physically dominant in contact makes offloading much easier, of course, and that has been the basis for much of Leinster’s passing out of the tackle. Snyman and Barrett are excellent offloaders and their skills seem to be infectious. The Springboks lock is particularly creative and looks for an offload virtually every single time he’s on the ball. His offloading vision seems to be rubbing off on others. Leinster’s eye for space is giving them chances to offload, as in the case below. Second row McCarthy recognises that Ulster loosehead Andrew Warwick is folding to the far side of the breakdown and that flanker Nick Timoney hasn’t closed directly into the right-hand fringe. So he scoops the ball up and accelerates, winning the collision and leaving himself free to offload to McGrath, who does the same after he’s been hauled down. The best French teams are excellent at exposing space around the fringes of the breakdown in this manner and it appears to be something Leinster are keen to stay on top of too. Their aim seems to be to have the ability to strike from anywhere if the defensive picture suggests it’s on. We looked at Leinster’s use of four-man pods of forwards earlier this season and they’ve continued to sprinkle them into their game, especially when ‘exiting’ from their own territory. The shot above comes after Harlequins have restarted following the Prendergast try. Leinster score directly off the restart as they use their four-man pod to get outside Quins. Porter, the second man in the pod, seems like the obvious receiver, but Gibson-Park goes instead to Sheehan, the third man. Sheehan sweeps the ball out the back of Conan to Prendergast, who sweeps the ball out the back of Ringrose to Lowe. Leinster are away up the right. When they sweep over to their left, we see how useful it is to have multiple options on every play. Prendergast looks to run a loop around Ringrose but he’s illegally tackled off the ball. Yet, as we see above, hard-working right wing Osborne can step up to take Ringrose’s return pass, which is intended for Prendergast. Osborne swings the ball out to van der Flier, who has been providing width on the left ever since Leinster broke out of their 22. Van der Flier’s reward for being disciplined in holding the width is a chance to show his power in a one-on-one against Quins wing Tyrone Green. Leinster score again a few phases later. Another element of Leinster’s attack that has grown over recent months is their backs’ work-rate off the ball. Bleyendaal appears to be pushing them to swing from one side of the pitch to the other in order to create overloads. This is the basis of much good attack in rugby these days and Leinster have sharpened up their off-the-ball work. Highlighted below is Barrett in a breakdown near the right-hand 15-metre line. As Leinster then carry to their left, Barrett is back on his feet and straight on his bike, swinging all the way over to the far side. His work-rate means that on the next phase, Barrett is in position to catch and pass, sending Lowe and Sheehan into a two-on-one on the left edge. The clip above also shows that Leinster centre Charlie Tector makes a similar effort but doesn’t end up getting on the ball. It’s an increasingly regular sight for pairs of Leinster backs to swing in this manner, helping them to get into numbers-up situations. In this instance, Lowe puts Sheehan away for one of his trademark pacy finishes. As well as his infectious work-rate, Barrett has clearly added stardust to Leinster’s attacking play. As we discussed after his performance against Glasgow, the All Blacks centre brings a fine kicking threat. And there is nice range in his kicking skills, as the example below shows. Barrett has just received a brilliant offload from Prendergast after the out-half fields a Quins kick. Barrett drops the ball onto his left foot and chips ahead to regather. Again, Leinster score a couple of phases later. Their attacking kicking game has been prominent in recent weeks, providing another string to their bow. The cross-field kick has always been part of Leinster’s armoury thanks to the likes of Johnny Sexton and Ross Byrne, who showed against Glasgow that he remains sharp in this department. Prendergast has taken up the mantle as a strong kicking out-half. There is great variety in his kicking toolkit, including diagonal kick passes similar to the one above. The 22-year-old is excellent at hanging up contestable bombs, while his restarts and line kicking are strengths too. Prendergast is also an excellent chip kicker and is capable of delivering well-weighted grubber kicks like the one below for a Keenan try. We can see Prendergast scanning as he gets set for the pass from Gibson-Park and Keenan is also presumably calling the space in behind. Even though Leinster are close to the Glasgow tryline, it’s still rare to have this much space in the backfield. But those multiple threats from Leinster help to make that the case. This try comes after Lowe’s bust from the McCarthy inside pass we looked at earlier. Leinster have moved the ball left from Lowe’s carry and as they play back infield, we can see that Glagow have George Horne [green below] and Adam Hastings [red] in the backfield. Glasgow fullback Kyle Rowe is just out of shot in the backfield on Glasgow’s left. But as Barrett then carries strongly for Leinster, tying in two tacklers and trapping several others in the shortside, Hastings [red below] and Rowe [blue] swing up into the frontline defence on Leinster’s right. They’re worried about Leinster moving the ball wide, with Max Deegan and Tommy O’Brien holding width on the right-hand side. Hastings and Rowe are hoping that Horne will be able to cover across in behind the Glasgow frontline to sweep up any possible chip or grubber kick, but Horne is taken out of the equation by another Leinster threat. As Barrett is tackled, we can see Gibson-Park scanning back into the shortside, suggesting he will characteristically go back there. Horne, who knows Gibson-Park’s penchant for attacking the shortside, instantly responds by shifting up onto the right edge of Glasgow’s frontline defence. That leaves the Glasgow backfield empty and Leinster even have time for one more carry through Snyman before Prendergast pulls the trigger. Leinster’s most delightful try in last weekend’s win over Ulster featured back-to-back attacking kicks. First, out-half Ciarán Frawley dinks a chip over Ulster after Leinster’s phase-play attack has slowed up. Tommy O’Brien and Frawley have communicated well and the right wing chases hard, getting his reward when Ulster scrum-half John Cooney just misses the ball on the bounce. O’Brien swerves to the inside of Doak, showing good balance to keep his feet but being slowed up by the Ulster man’s tackle attempt. O’Brien then demonstrates remarkable presence of mind to fire a kick wide right, where instinct and knowledge of Leinster’s attacking plan tell him that someone will be holding position. O’Brien also probably spots Sheehan despite the bodies around him. Because there are defenders closing in, O’Brien doesn’t have time or space for a more orthodox kick, so he stabs at the ball in a staccato manner, snapping it up over the Ulster players and out towards Sheehan on the bounce. Once again, the Leinster wide forward gets rewarded for what can be the thankless task of holding the width while others are busy in the middle of the pitch. It’s a stunning bit of skill from O’Brien to tee the try up. This moment also underlines the confidence and fluidity Leinster have been playing with in recent weeks. They have looked like a team who are very much in the flow. The reality is that other teams won’t give them the sheer number of opportunities they have been afforded in the last three weeks, but it will give Leinster self-belief that they have a range of weapons to call on in the big moments. Murray Kinsella Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Leinster have notched 155 points, 50 breaks, and 61 offloads in three games”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Leinster have notched 155 points, 50 breaks, and 61 offloads in three games”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. Leave a Comment Submit a report Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines. 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