Brian O’Driscoll joined Monday Night Rugby on Off The Ball to talk about some of the genius plays that Leinster have used trick opposition defences of late.

“It is just the psychology of what Leinster do; I think they’re such a clever team,” O’Drsicoll said.

He was referring in particular to Leinster’s backline set up around set pieces and their ability trick the opposition.

“I just think the picture that they show to that opposition, then so often they do something slightly different,” O’Driscoll said.

“They’ll know the analysis that would have been done on them [and] it will feel like it is a particular play.”

He used the example of Leinster’s loop play against Ulster at the weekend.

“Back when I was playing it was the Brumbies play and it was the 10, 12, 13-short and out the back to 10 looping around or hit the 13 short and then a blind winger trailing,” he said.

“So, you could go through the guts or you could go around players holding your depth as appropriate.

“What they’ve started doing now is they’re going nine to 12.

“They don’t have the luxury anymore of having that extra pass, to get through three passes before the clutch pass is triggered.

“They go nine, 12, 13-short, and then 10 out the back with the blind winger trailing.”

What this does is open up two different passing options to break the offensive line, according to O’Driscoll.

But Leinster have also added a kicking option to this play, which O’Driscoll believes creates doubt in defences.

“It is the same set up so often, but now we’re starting to see their grubber kick used an awful lot,” he said.

“It's all well and good talking about doing it, but then having the accuracy and the trail lines to be able to get through, I thought it was really clever early on.

“What it does too, the psychology of it gets the opposition questioning their defensive line speed.”

As was the case against Ulster on Saturday, the use of this play early enough in the match can open up the passing option later in the game.

“It allows them later on to actually go to the loop play or to the hit-return play, so nine, 12, hit the 13, back to 12 and then all of a sudden you’re around the corner,” O’Driscoll said.

“By nudging a ball within the first two minutes, straight away as a defensive 13, if I was [James] Hume or [Stuart] McCloskey, I’d be thinking ‘gosh, I wasn’t expecting that, now we’ll be on our heels a little bit more’.

“That just gives you another second on the ball a little bit later on in the game.”

Rob Kearney of Leinster kicks the ball on against James Hume of Ulster during the Guinness PRO14 Round 15 match between Ulster and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

This play is not designed to score, but rather sow the seeds of doubt in the defence.

“The fact that they were able to regather the ball and then score six or seven phases later on through Ed Byrne was the icing on the cake,” O’Driscoll said.

“The aggressiveness of the chase from the likes of [Rory] O’Loughlin in taking out [Matt] Faddes, and then [Ciaran] Frawley actually being able to recoup the ball and then all of a sudden they’re hammering away at the line.

“These small moments just set up the doubt in Ulster’s mind.

“They thought ‘we are going to have it good from the off’, and now Leinster all of a sudden, within three or four minutes, are seven points up.”

Leinster breaking modern defences

With the way that modern defences are stacking up, O’Driscoll sees the use of kicks that can be regathered as the way to open the game up and break through defences.

“Identifying that kick-to-regather is a big component of the game, now that there is, a huge amount of the time, 14 bodies in the defensive line with one in the back field,” he said.

The most common set up on defence in the modern game sees only the fullback covering in the back field, with the other 14 players pressing up in a single defensive line.

“When you talk about 14-1, you talk about what the responsibilities of what the fullback has to cover now, teams are playing wingers high,” O’Driscoll said.

“It is to show that line speed, to not think about drifting so that you can get up in the opposition’s faces.

“There has to be space somewhere, and if you can set up a situation where you can manipulate a defence or pull a fullback out and have a winger playing high, you nudge the ball through and then it’s a footrace.

“Then it is down to the quality of the kicks.

“We know the bounce of a rugby ball can bounce any particular way so at least your odds are stacked at a 50/50 favour when there’s a foot rush.”

Backs coach Felipe Contepomi, left, and Kicking coach and lead performance analyst Emmet Farrell during Leinster Rugby squad training at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

While he praises the likes of Felipe Contepomi, Stuart Lancaster and Leo Cullen for setting up the plays that Leinster use, O’Driscoll has seen where the inspiration for these tactics has come from.

“I just think they really thought through their kicking game and I wonder whether it has come as a result of the work they’ve done with the Crusaders; with [Scott] Robertson,” he said.

“England have obviously had [George] Ford, [Owen] Farrell and Ben Youngs capable of nudging those little grubber kicks through.”

It is expected that similar tactics and trick plays will be used by Leinster in their semi-final against Munster on Friday.

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