Stuart Lancaster's quick start in Connacht no surprise to Leinster's Jimmy O'Brien
Jimmy O'Brien during a Leinster rugby squad training session at Pretoria, South Africa. Pic: Frans Lombard/Sportsfile
Leinster were still licking their wounds from a 35-0 trouncing in Cape Town the evening before when their old senior coach Stuart Lancaster got his Connacht tenure off to a flying start at the Dexcom Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
A bonus-point eleven-point win over a Benetton team boasting a significant slice of the Italian national roster made for an impressive first offering from the Englishman and Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien wasn’t surprised to see it.
“As a coach, I thought Stu was brilliant. He came in the same year I went into the first year academy and so I was kind of with him the whole way up. He would have coached me whatever, seven, eight years maybe together.
“I loved him as a coach. He massively helped me and my game to progress. About him hitting the ground running, no not really shocked. The Irish system suits him, coming into the Irish game. We know he’s such a good coach, he’s going to have Connacht playing well.”
Leinster will be the visitors in Galway in January when the stadium's new stand is opened for the first time and, if the vibes are good out west this week, then the reigning URC champions are indulging in no little level of introspection.
Losing their opener to the Stormers was one thing. Losing while being kept scoreless for the first time in 17 years and leaking water in almost every department was quite another for a side deprived of frontline players but still able to field 13 internationals.
“It was a 100% shock,” said O’Brien. “As you said, it’s rare that happens with Leinster. I think the last time was, someone saying it was 2008 or something that we hadn’t scored a point, which is mental. Not a thing you want to have or be part of a team that it happens to.
“It was pretty frustrating. The whole squad, even the lads who weren’t playing, were very disappointed about our performance, and all the lads who played were all very disappointed in what performance we put out on that pitch.
“We were pretty low over the weekend and then, watching it back, we did our review of it [on Sunday] when we got to Pretoria. Watched it back as a squad and talked about it. It was open to the floor for anyone to say anything. That went pretty well.”
There has been no hiding from it this week, not with a follow-up appointment in Pretoria where the Bulls, the side they beat in last year’s Croke Park final, lying in wait and with a taste for revenge in their mouths.
“After the game, I don’t think anyone wanted even to go back to their room because they didn’t want to be by themselves. Even on Saturday when we had the day in Cape Town, everyone kind of got around each other and spent time together.
“Obviously that leads into talking about the game and talking about how you can fix it and stuff, which obviously wouldn’t have happened at home. We would have maybe gone back home and you would have been sitting by yourself, thinking what you did wrong.”
The thinking is, then, that this extra time spent together on tour will accelerate the learning curve with O’Brien echoing forwards coach Robin McBryde in stressing they haven’t become a terrible team overnight.
No-one is reaching for the panic button just yet but returning from South Africa without a win or, worse, without a point, would be a deeply unsatisfactory opening chapter and leave them with far less wiggle room when push comes to shove later in the campaign.
“Any time you go to South Africa it’s tough,” said O’Brien. “I don’t think we’ve won the two games ever. I think we’ve only ever got one win and maybe last year was maybe our best one with a win and a losing bonus point.
“It’s tough coming down here and as I kind of said before, after last week’s performance, this week has gotten even more important. We’re just trying to nail our training this week, nail our plan for the weekend. Show up ready and show up a lot better than we did on Friday.”
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