'That's on me' - forwards coach Robin McBryde apologises after Leinster's scrum malfunction

The champions were nilled for the first time in 17 years against the Stormers in theirs URC opener.

Mon, 29 Sep, 2025 - 19:00

Brendan O'Brien

Leinster forwards coach Robin McBryde has apologised for what he says was his failure to prepare the province’s pack properly for last Friday night’s URC-opening 35-0 defeat to the Stormers in Pretoria.

The reigning champions were nilled for the first time in 17 years and basically beaten all ends up. It started up front where they were destroyed in the scrum, at lineout and in the battle of the breakdown.

It’s hard to stay afloat when leaking all that water.

“Everyone is scratching their heads with regards to where Friday night came from,” McBryde said. “We didn’t see that coming. I’ve apologised because I didn’t prepare the forwards well enough. We didn’t provide the platform to launch any type of attack.

“So that's on me. I'm not one for standing still and I like to move things forward and stretch people, but yeah, obviously, have I done it at the right time, with the right group of people? Maybe not. So that was a lot to do with it.

“The fact that we had very limited ball to play with. It was almost as if we were fighting with one hand tied behind our backs, really. So, yeah, I can only apologise for that.” There is very little time to dwell on the shock with Leo Cullen’s men moving on to Pretoria over the weekend where they will face a side that they last crossed paths with in Croke Park for the URC decider.

“Listen, nothing focuses the mind better than the Bulls on Saturday next up. There are going to be similar challenges for us on Saturday. They're very strong up front. They’re one of the most consistent teams in the URC, three-time finalists.

“Then you've got the added spice of last year's final where we beat them, so they'll be up for revenge. So, it really is backs to the wall and we've got to give a much better account of ourselves on Saturday.” The fact they have eight days in between these two South African fixtures is undoubtedly a help as it allows that bit more time to flush the toxins from the system after Cape Town where their discipline and aerial game also fell below their usual standards.

McBryde spoke of the “honesty” on show in the meetings among a travelling party that is operating without a large contingent of British and Irish Lions and another clump of players who were on Ireland duties in Georgia and Portugal over the summer.

There are two ways to look at a loss of that magnitude. The first is to shrug and say there isn’t a hope of so much going wrong again The second is to realise that, with so much going wrong, where do you start in putting it right?

“They're very good players and, as I have said, we haven't been able to put our finger on any one thing, really, that contributed to the performance,” said their Welsh assistant coach. “There's so many areas that need improvement and how we apply ourselves.” Winning their share of ball was an obvious starting point identified by McBryde.

Due credit was apportioned in the way of the Stormers who, despite the absence of their Springboks due to Rugby Championships affairs, still beat a Leinster matchday squad of 23 that could still boast 13 internationals.

The likes of Ryan Baird and Max Deegan have been taking on leadership roles in rebounding from this first misstep and future-proofing the squad ahead of a campaign where their scalp will be prized even more than before.

“Leo came back from the coaches' conference at the start of the [season] and one feeling, definitely, was that everybody's going to come out gunning for us because we're the reigning champions. So it's to be expected.

“As we found following our loss against Northampton Saints, there's not that many people who sympathise with Leinster when the team loses. So it is very much up to us now, and we've got to stand up to it and come out fighting and earn the right to put on the shirt and be a part of Leinster rugby.”