LONG READ 'There's not a lot wrong': Leinster going for broke to avoid more broken hearts

As Leinster players are put through their paces nearby, Guy Easterby pops over for a quick hello. The former Leinster and Ireland scrum-half has been in a managerial position, of one guise or the other, at the province for the past 14 years. He has been there for three of Leinster’s Champions Cup wins and, conversely, their four cup final defeats in more recent seasons.

Easterby was at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in May, when Toulouse delivered Leinster’s latest Champions Cup heartbreak. Just over three months later, though, and he is chipper. We discuss our summers, that seemingly never-ending 2023/24 season and how we are about to plunge in again, with a Lions tour wrapping up the new campaign. When talk turns to what lies ahead, Easterby chats with genuine excitement about what this Leinster side are capable of.

After training has wrapped, and players have each posed for their umpteenth snap with supporters, Jacques Nienaber makes his way over. He carries that same giddy aura. The session has been positive and the internationals are mixing back in with the younger players and veterans.

I ask if, after Ciarán Frawley’s Test match heroics in South Africa, more of the Leinster lads have been nestling back in the pocket and trying their training ground luck. “Ah, definitely!” Nienaber replies after a sharp laugh.

“Listen, the drop goal is brilliant and it sometimes is not as celebrated as much as it should be. It’s just like kicking a penalty. We go ballistic when somebody scores a try in the corner, and when they don’t convert, it’s five points. When you kick two drop goals, it’s six points, which is more valuable than a try. But a try gets appreciated a lot more. No, getting points on the board is the main thing.”

It has been over seven years since Leinster recorded a drop goal in a competitive match (Ross Byrne v Ospreys in April 2017) but Frawley did have two darts in that losing final effort against Toulouse. Expect to see that tactic deployed at a few points over the new season. Someone at Leinster needs to wrest a firm grip on that 10 jersey, and slotting drops is a useful point of difference.

Leinster have one of the deepest, most talented squads in world rugby so their mission is one of fine-tuning and adding quality personnel that may prove that winning difference.

Nienaber is relaxed and affable throughout his chat, staying as long as questions are coming his way. In the background, James Lowe jokes with a young fan that he takes his boots off before these training session meet-and-greets because “older, bolder boys keep asking for them!”

You wonder how this side with three final and four semi-final defeats in their last four seasons can somehow regroup and go again. You ask how they can head into this new season, starting from scratch, with such vigour.

James Ryan may have lost the Leinster captaincy to Caelan Doris but one of his final post-match acts resonates into this season. Ryan, who was co-captain with Garry Ringrose in 2023/24, was still raw from that extra-time Toulouse loss when he sagely reflected, “When you want to do great things and you want to achieve great things, you always want the risk of failing greatly, as well… Would I rather be in a team that tries to be the best team in Europe every year and have risks in a team like this? I still would. That’s part of trying to do special things.”

I can still recall flying from Bilbao to Dublin the day after Leinster beat Racing 92 to claim their fourth European Cup in 2018. Four had been ticked off but all the chat and chants from the still merry supporters, as we flew back, was ‘five stars’. Since then, there have been four decent cracks at reaching number five but Saracens, La Rochelle (twice) and Toulouse have denied them that star.

As Ryan mused, what is the alternative? If this were the NBA or NFL, and there had been a series of finals gut-punches, murmurs of ‘blowing it up’ would intensify. Leinster have one of the deepest, most talented squads in world rugby so their mission is one of fine-tuning and adding quality personnel that may prove that winning difference. In come a trio of signings that have their URC and English rivals confounded. No-one outside of Leinster feels too sorry for the side that responds to disappointment by drafting in Jordie Barrett, Rabah Slimani and RG Snyman.

Munster had to make a call between RG and Jean Kleyn, and they went with Jean.

Nienaber says French prop Slimani has settled in quickly and is helping the younger core of forwards on a lot more than just canny scrummaging techniques. On Snyman, his fellow South African says the forward’s decision to move from Munster to Leinster is well documented. “Munster had to make a call between RG and Jean Kleyn, and they went with Jean. RG was available. His wife is doing some accountancy exams in Ireland, so they were keen to stay and for Leinster to come for him. I don’t think he wanted to leave, to be fair.”

“Jordie was quite open with us, that he wanted to come here,” Nienaber adds of the All Blacks centre. “He could have got a lot more money, going to Japan or other clubs but he wanted to come here, which is good. It speaks volumes for the rugby programme we have at the club.”

Nienaber says “succession planning” and adding quality signings is mainly down to Leo Cullen, Guy Easterby and some Leinster higher-ups. He looks after the rugby programme, but his opinion is sought on potential signings. Asked if adding three established, overseas internationals to an already stacked playing squad means Leinster are going for broke this season, Nienaber gives it some consideration. “I don’t think it’s all or nothing for us,” he replies. “I mean, it’s good if you can attract people that want to come to the club.”

The co-captaincy experiment of last season has been parked and Leinster are embracing the drop goal. Cutting down on rash penalties as starters begin to tire is another area to address. Slimani adds some front-row nous, but Leinster would dearly love for a Michael Milne, Tom Clarkson, Jack Boyle or Paddy McCarthy to really kick on. Nienaber instilled a new defensive identity and, he feels, it will bear fruit, this season. “It’s exciting to see if we can build on last year. Were we awesome? We weren’t the best in the northern hemisphere, by a long shot. I think we were within the top three or four defensive teams in the URC, and Europe, but we’re not at the top yet. There’s still growth for us, in that department.”

The most closely watched position will be out-half, though it may not be until the Champions Cup games in December and January before Leinster fully show their hand. The Byrne brothers had a good crack at it, last season, but Frawley and Sam Prendergast deserve decent opportunities at 10.

Before the new season became the obsession, Nienaber, Cullen and their coaching staff sat down to ask if much needed to be changed. No-one reached that conclusion, but getting there was as informative as it was lively.

There’s not a lot wrong. We were in the mix and toe-to-toe with a rival like Toulouse, a good rugby club, and sh**, it could have gone either way.

Nienaber goes into detail about the 20-plus phases the Bulls withstood, late on, to help win their URC semi-final. He is still perturbed by Sergeal Petersen’s match-winning try – “we didn’t handle a high ball” – but stresses there was still plenty of time to turn that one around. “Again,” he adds, “it is ifs and buts, but we all saw what Frawls can do with a drop goal, against South Africa. I think he missed the (first) drop goal against Toulouse, in the final, by about a metre. That thing goes over, we win a trophy and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“There’s not a lot wrong. We were in Europe, in the mix and toe-to-toe with a rival like Toulouse, a good rugby club, and sh**, it could have gone either way.”