Lancaster and Leinster brace themselves for Clermont test

Not the least impressive feature of Leinster’s rejuvenation this season has been their attacking game. In 30 games last season they scored 60 tries. After their latest haul of five tries in the Sportsground last Saturday in their 27th game so far this season, they have already scored 121 tries.

They scored two of Saturday's five through their defence, while showing a real cutting edge, with the distribution of Ross Byrne and Noel Reid helping them to outflank Connacht's defence tellingly.

Connacht players were, to a man, suitably impressed by Leinster’s much improved defensive and offensive games this season, with the latter their most striking area of improvement according to Pat Lam.

“It’s their attack,” said Pat Lam in highlighting the greater width and variety to Leinster’s attacking game.

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“They are playing the edges; they are playing with width; there is real clarity in what they are doing. Certainly over the year when I first got here I used to watch them and they were around the corner, around the corner, around the corner so it was easy to defend. Now they can hit you both left and right, and the reload back.”

Lam also cited Leinster’s improved ability to convert three-on-two or two-on-one match-ups, the quality of their players and the way all in their squad can seamlessly slip into their structure.

When Stuart Lancaster first arrived on the Leinster scene in September it's easy to forget that he raised eyebrows when starting his ambition was to help make the province a force in Europe again. Now they are within a game of reaching a fourth final.

“It is hard for me to measure it because I wasn’t here,” said Lancaster in comparing last season with this. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve been unbelievably impressed with the quality of players that are here, the mindset to want to get better and, also, the mindset to go to a fourth European Cup final. It is a massive, massive driver for the players.

“The players, quite rightly, are very proud and the players, who played in those finals, are very proud of what they have achieved in the past. They want to do it again for the fourth time. Only Toulouse have won the European Cup four times. And so it goes on. That is the big, big driver for them. I can’t fault the players. They’ve been outstanding.”

Lancaster’s influence has clearly been profound. Leinster are the leading try scorers in the European Cup this season, scoring 31 in a pool with Montpellier, Castres and Northampton, and after their stylish quarter-final win over Wasps, when Leinster made 17 offloads, beat 28 defenders and scored four tries, Lancaster sees no reason why Leinster should abandon their attacking philosophy now.

Tough challenge

“I think you’ve got to, really. You’ve got to be aware when you’re playing any team in France not to give them a start. That allows them to build momentum and belief in their game but there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that if we have a positive mindset to play the game from the first to the 80th minute that we can cause some problems.

“We saw both in the qualifying rounds but also in the PRO12 as well. We wouldn’t have scored 86 tries [in the Pro12] by accident.”

Leinster haven’t won on their last four treks to France, dating back to a pool win over Castres three seasons ago, and having been at the 2015 semi-final in Saint Etienne when Clermont beat a red-hot Saracens 13-9, Lancaster appreciates the scale of the task.

“When they put out their best team they tend to win,” said Lancaster.

“They are a very strong team, across the board, really. They’ve obviously got a couple of key injuries but we’ve watched all the pool games. They’ve played Ulster twice and Exeter twice. They are probably the best coached of the Top 14 teams in terms of their organisation and structure. They are fit. They have got X-factor players all over the park and their motivation playing in front of their own fans will be huge so it is as tough a challenge as you are going to get in European rugby.”

Clermont's Fijian-born French winger Noa Nakaitaci has joined Wesley Fofana on the sidelines due to the ruptured cruciate ligament he suffered in the quarter-final win over Toulon, but Lancaster agrees that Clermont are the most potent side in the competition at converting line breaks into tries.

“Their attacking threat is significantly higher than any other team we’ve faced so far this season. You only have to watch the Exeter game, for example. Exeter are second-from-top in The Premiership and they blew them away in the first half with a brand of rugby that Exeter, who are very good defensively, just couldn’t live with. Particularly at home, with the energy and momentum a crowd can give, it is going to be a huge test for us defensively.”

“On the flip side, I would argue the Top-14 sides defend differently to the way we defend. I think, if we can get the width in our defensive line and our line speed right, then we can force errors as well as deal with the threats that they’ve got coming at us. But, they’ve got X-Factor players across the board.”