Leinster’s management team “missed a trick badly” with their selection for the province’s Pro12 clash with the Dragons on Sunday, according to RTÉ rugby analyst Donal Lenihan.
Matt O’Connor’s side led by 22-8 with 50 minutes gone in what was a game they desperately needed to win as they chase a top-four finish to ensure a play-off , but imploded thereafter, and ending up losing the game 25-22.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport about the game, and the challenge Leinster face to rebuild ahead of a daunting Champions Cup semi-final away to Toulon next Sunday, Lenihan criticised the decision to play a much-changed side from the one that had beaten Bath the week before.
"Time to put away the cotton wool. You play your best team" - Donal Lenihan after Leinster's win over Bath
“I had sympathy for Matt O’Connor in the past, in terms of the difficulties he faced in putting a team together because of well-documented issues with the number of players involved with Ireland,” said Lenihan.
But, he continued, “after the win over Bath my reaction was, ‘Look, time to put away the cotton wool'. You play your best team from here on in.
"I think Leinster missed a trick badly, by making 12 changes again for the game last weekend.
“Particularly, given that as an entity, the Leinster side has played together on so few occasions. I would have thought that they needed to pick the same team, give them another run out together.
“You had a full week between the game against the Dragons and the semi-final against Toulon, so I don’t understand the logic. Leinster had to win the game to keep their qualification chances for the Pro12 [play-offs] in their own hands, and that was a game that was eminently winnable, even with all the changes.”
Lenihan warned that the manner of Leinster’s defeat would sting in the run-up to what was already certain to be a tough game against the European heavyweights that are Toulon.
“To be 22-8 [up], and to succumb 22-25, it does nothing for your confidence going into a game of such magnitude as the Toulon game.”
He agreed that Leinster should have pushed on from their dominant position, and said they should have dealt better with the 63rd-minute sin-binning of Ben Te’o.
"When the pressure comes on, they seem to fold far too easily"
Leinster under Matt O’Connor have also come under criticism for their style of play, and a perception that the expansive, attacking flair seen under Joe Schmidt and Michael Cheika has been replaced by a more limited, predictable approach.
Lenihan contrasted the current Leinster side with previous incarnations, and said that while a number of crucial players like Brian O’Driscoll, Leo Cullen, Isa Nacewa and Johnny Secton had departed the scene, there were still enough experience present that the province’s difficulties could be explained away by change alone.
“Given the players that they lost you would expect that they would have to play a different type of game, but the clarity that was there with the same group of players last year just doesn’t seem to be there this year,” he said.
“The thing for me is, from a confidence point of view, when the pressure comes on, they seem to fold far too easily.”
Lenihan also said the defensive certainty O’Connor had managed to instil in the side had faltered this season.
“When Matt O’Connor came in first, he put a huge amount of emphasis on improving what was a very good Leinster defence even to being a better defence. And I think he achieved a lot of that last year ... but even that seems to be coming under pressure now.
“Dragons were allowed back into the game far too easily,” he said.
“Too many missed tackles. You go back to the game against Bath, when they had their full compliment on board; I think there was 14 missed tackles in the opening 40 minutes, and 26 over the course of the game. That is inexcuseable.”
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