Jack Conan knows Leinster need to be better for annual Christmas trip to Thomond Park

Leinster play Munster at Thomond Park on December 27

Jack Conan said there is "no sense of panic" among the Leinster squad about their performances. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Jack Conan has warned that Leinster will need to be “a hell of a lot better” when they travel to Limerick for their traditional Christmas encounter with Munster at Thomond Park next week.

Friday night’s 24-20 defeat of Ulster in the Aviva Stadium was typical of their recent form with the visitors scoring three first-half tries to claim a 17-7 half-time lead before Leinster’s stronger bench turned the tide towards the end.

It was far from perfect, even if it marked a fifth straight win since their loss against Munster at Croke Park back in October, with the capital side committing a host of errors as they look to steady the ship after a disjointed start to the season.

Head coach Leo Cullen touched on the need to get a buzz going during the interval, and assistant coach Robin McBryde has mentioned a flatness in recent weeks, as the province tries to find its stride after so many players were away with the Lions in the summer.

Cullen has said before that that tour, with its huge Leinster representation was both an honour and a probably source of some discomfort for the province and they have certainly struggled to find the best of themselves so far.

It was put to Conan, who is one of those Lions but still earned the man of the match award here in Ballsbridge, that maybe the squad as a collective could do with turning a page as they turn in to the New Year.

“You get to turn the page every week because it is a new contest and whatever else so, yeah, we are constantly looking to progress and evolve and get better, and I know we haven’t been at our best so far but we are putting little bits together every week.

“If we keep working hard and keep on honing our habits on the basics of the game then it will come. There is too much quality in the playing group and the coaching staff for it not to. There is no sense of panic. Teams are good, they want to beat you.

“You want to be at your best every day but that’s not reality, that’s not life. It’s back to the drawing board for next week against Munster who we failed to flatter against the last time (sic) so we will have to be a hell of a lot better than that time.” 

Cullen spoke of players “trying a little bit too hard at times, you know, rather than just being patient” in admitting that the display was far from perfect and echoing the need to do better in Thomond Park on December 27th.

“There's a couple of games now we've got ourselves in trouble with some of our own looseness and Munster in Croke Park is probably the one, more than anything, that's probably one of the games where we were probably most loose with the ball.

“And we obviously saw the result that day against a very hungry, desperate team. So if we're loose with the ball again next week against Munster, we know what's going to happen to us because we've already seen it happen to us.” 

For Ulster, this might sting as one that got away but head coach Richie Murphy was a bit taken aback by the notion that this narrow defeat to such a strong Leinster team in Dublin would somehow deflate his players after a positive start to the campaign.

“I don't know what people expect, because a lot of people are saying that to us, but we'll learn from this experience.

“You look at the young guys that are coming onto the pitch, the young guys that are starting. Charlie Irvine, massive game for him. Joe Hopes coming on. Bryn Ward, 21 years of age, all of them.

"Those guys will learn from this experience and we'll get better. That's what we've tasked at the start of the season, is that we improve every week. So it definitely won't deflate us.

"It definitely won't knock us off track. We just need to regroup, learn from the mistakes that were in this game and just try and prepare the best we can for Connacht.”