Leinster's attacking verve suiting James Lowe down to the ground

Leinster's James Lowe. Pic: Tom Maher/Inpho

History has rarely been made so easily. James Lowe was the first player to score a hat-trick in a Champions Cup semi-final when he achieved the feat against Northampton Saints last year. It’s not a feat he has tried to embellish with time.

“I ran about 12 metres,” he smiled. “It would be nice if that happened again.” 

The Ireland wing claimed his scores in the 11th, 17th and 43rd minutes. It looked, on rewatching them, as if he might have covered closer somewhere to 17 metres to get all three jobs done, but his deflection of any praise holds as much water.

That last score left Leinster 20-3 to the good against an opponent that they face at the same stage – though in a different venue – on Saturday. They looked all but home and hosed last time. And then they weren’t.

Leo Cullen’s men didn’t score again. They had just three points to act as buffer by the time the final whistle went at Croke Park and most of the supporters in Croke Park’s 82,000 crowd could finally breathe with something like ease again.

“I know it looked like we had them under a lot of scoreboard pressure, but they are an exciting team who have players across the field that can make something out of nothing and they put us under a lot of pressure,” said Lowe.

Northampton are different now. The personnel has changed. Courtney Lawes is gone, Henry Pollock is the new star. The team’s defence of its Premiership title has been a bust but they have racked up some big wins in the Champions Cup.

Leinster have been mostly excellent on both fronts but, as with Saints, it wouldn’t be wise to read too much into the ease with which they have sauntered through the knockout stages thus far, even if there has been plenty to like.

Lowe zeroed in on how the defensive work in nilling Harlequins and Glasgow has been the foundation stone for much of their sublime attack play while warning that Northampton are a more pragmatic conundrum when compared to their last two victims.

“They’ve got kickers across the pitch. It’s a different beast.” 

Lowe has benefited more than most from the cascade of attacking opportunities with three tries claimed from round of 16 and quarter-final wins in which the province has chucked the ball around with more abandon than before.

Such choice of words, 'chucked', 'abandon', is probably unfair and inaccurate. It seems instead that the influence of RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett has injected a touch of off-script excellence into a Leinster system and structure that can cater for the odd touch of individualism.

Lowe takes the point, while adding attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal to that same mix.

“It's always good when you get a new coach and then someone of Jordie’s experience who has played under Tyler in New Zealand because you have someone trying to preach to a lot of bodies across the field and you also have a player who played in the system.

“So if you don’t quite understand it upstairs then you also have someone on the ground who can say it or show it in a different way, or on the pitch, and not just on video afterwards.

“It’s not that we didn’t play expansive rugby, but it’s just that we don’t need our shape the whole time to get the ball to space.

“You talk about RG, the big freak. He’s 6’ 8” or taller and he runs like the wind, and every time he gets the ball, everyone is looking for the offload because he doesn’t want to die with it. They have been great additions to Leinster and Irish rugby.” 

Sam Prendergast is offered as another factor.

Lowe describes a player who is a "magician” half of the time, someone who is nailing spirals in training and in games, and a young player finding his voice as he gets to grips with the job of talking his team around the pitch.

Prendergast did approach Lowe at half-time of the Six Nations opener against England and expressed his befuddlement at why so many opponents were chirping at him. The same happened against ‘Quins and Glasgow.

“He was like, 'Why does everyone just yell at me the whole time?' Obviously you see a young 10 and you want to get in his head, you want to get after him and put him under as much pressure as you can, but he's stood up to it so far. So hopefully he can keep on going.”