Going into the weekend's Champions Cup semi-finals there was a lot of talk about how Leinster missed more tackles than any of the sides which remained in the competition.
That stat looks to have been a little bit of fear-mongering, or at the very least it shouldn't have been as much of a cause for concern, as Leinster ran out 38-16 winners, and not only conceded less points than anyone, but only gave up a consolation try in the final few minutes of the game.
Brian O'Driscoll joined Ger and guest co-host Johnny Ward in studio on OTB AM this morning to review all of the weekend's action, and the former Irish captain said while Leinster may miss tackles, he noted their defensive strength out wide, and compared it to that of the national team's which he feels can be more narrow at times.
"They don't miss them[tackles] that often in the wide channels. Leinster's spacing, I think this is what differentiates them from Ireland, is their defensive system. They play it slightly differently, I think their spacing is slightly better, I think Ireland are more susceptible to getting caught in the wide channels because they get narrow".
"I think the Leinster wingers play way higher and there's much more of onus at the fullback to cover the backfield, plus either the no.10 or the no.9, so it's really only two in the backfield. Then the two Leinster wingers only play a couple of yards off their centre, or whoever the second last man is, so they're playing much more aggressively. A lot of the time they're leaving the last man over, that's why they're playing hard up rather than trying to play any way soft, so if the first pass is thrown and it's a long pass sometimes there's an ability for Ringrose to read and get onto that and his winger just follows him in".
He further broke it down for us laymen, comparing the positioning of the Leinster wingers and centres with that of their international counterparts(often the same players in different coloured jerseys), and how the system employed means they act differently on the field
"With Ireland the winger plays off a lot more, he's kind of hedging his bets as to whether there might be a kick option, and that connectivity between no.13 and wingers means you've got to automatically play a lot softer as a no.13 because if you go quickly and you miss your man and he gets it away then your winger is absolutely screwed because you've immediately created a two-on-one. Whereas if he's following into that channel as well the likelihood of getting two fast passes away is less so".
O'Driscoll was also skeptical on the idea of statistics for hits and missed tackles, as a lot of the work being done by a good defensive system can't be quantified by numbers. Speaking on the partnership between Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw O'Driscoll pointed out how well they covered the centre of the park simply by shepherding the Scarlets into uncomfortable areas instead of breaking the line looking for a highlight reel hit, and that's something fans can look forward to as the pair continue to learn each other's games.
"Their ability to be able to read when it was on for them, to be able to hit through the line, where to close it off, and sometimes defense isn't all about making tackles, it's about scaring the opposition into going back inside".
"The more they play together, the more they train together, be it at Leinster or Ireland, they'll get more used to one another. That element of telepathy will come into play, where there;'s no need for communication, they'll just read body language off one another. they'll dovetail, they'll share the workload".
"Whatever about the talent, the footwork, the physicality, it's their willingness to work so hard for the team that separates these two".
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