As the Leinster team bus was filling just before 11.0pm outside Thomond Park on Tuesday night after their 9-3 win and the rain was driving in again, coach Leo Cullen’s mind had already pivoted from Munster to who would replace backs coach Andrew Goodman and the prospect of Ulster on New Year’s Day with a six-day turnaround.
Goodman, who has been with Leinster since June 2022, will be leaving to take up Mike Catt’s position with Ireland at the end of the season after Ireland’s tour to South Africa in the summer.
Cullen will hope to have a coach in place for pre-season next year, citing the arrival of Jacques Nienaber mid-season following the Rugby World Cup as an imperfect arrangement, although understandable given the World Cup year and South Africa winning the tournament.
“With Stu [Lancaster] moving on and Jacques [Nienaber] coming in at a time when the season is up and running, so that’s not ideal,” said Cullen. “Ideally you want a coach here for pre-season but, again, sometimes it’s about getting the right person in. Sometimes you have to wait longer, whatever that is.
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“Listen, I’m delighted for Goody [Goodman]. I was hopeful he would be around a bit longer because he has settled in well. I was hoping he would be around Leinster for a long, long time because he’s a brilliant person in the group. “Similar to Felipe [Contepomi], we are delighted. As I said, we would have loved him to have been here longer. That was the plan, that he was going to be around longer, but then I talked to Andy [Farrell] and David [Nucifora]. Goody goes with our wishes.”
Leinster will make changes for the New Year’s Day match against Ulster in the RDS, although there are no concerns over outhalf Harry Byrne, who limped off at half time but continued to play. Ulster will have had a longer break, having beaten Connacht in Belfast on December 22nd.
Praising his Leinster team for adapting to the wind and rain, which was more severe than had been anticipated, the sure-fire knowledge is that Ulster will offer a different challenge and the match will be played in better conditions than what Cullen described as “bloody horrific”. However, his takeaway from Munster was positive despite the scrums, knock-ons, spills and dropped balls.
He also had to rejig at scrumhalf, with the experienced Luke McGrath coming in late to start the match for Jamison Gibson-Park. The incumbent Irish scrumhalf is expected to be available to play against Ulster.
“Like, it’s full blooded, isn’t it? They’re [Munster] firing into everything and making life very difficult,” said Cullen. “We probably didn’t have enough control on the game as we would have liked to, but again that’s down to the pressure we were put under. On the flip side I thought we put good pressure on Munster when they had possession. It was always going to favour defensive coaches the way the conditions were.
“The conditions away to La Rochelle were very similar but we got that try at the start of the game which means La Rochelle are having to chase the game to a certain extent, whereas we never got to that point against Munster. We didn’t ever really have enough scoreboard pressure, unfortunately, especially playing into the wind in the second half.”
Another upside to the win was Joe McCarthy picking up his second man of the match award of the season as he shows more edge to his game. The young secondrow thrived in the adversity, which he said suited his play. “I don’t mind scrumming and mauling all day, it probably suits my strengths,” he quipped.
A pleased McCarthy has had a career-changing year. In August Farrell included him in his World Cup squad. The New York-born 22-year-old then came on to play against Romania and New Zealand. Although he remains on the learning curve his natural strength and size have been impressively effective for Leinster and Ireland.
McCarthy has come along at speed having been named in the Leinster Rugby academy for the 2021–22 season before making his debut in that year’s URC against Cardiff.
“They’re probably the most satisfying games [to win],” he says. “It’s always weird playing a game around Christmas. You’re kind of relieved to get the win after travelling down. It’s really satisfying just grinding out a win like that, 9-3. It’s always tight between Munster and us, the last few games have been one-score games, so we knew it was going to be tight.”
McCarthy should also benefit from the arrival of RG Snyman. The South African-winning lock, who is leaving Munster at the end of the campaign, brings intellectual capital, having played in back-to-back World Cup wins with the Springboks. Combined with Nienaber’s input, if nothing else, there will be different ideas floated around at training sessions.
“Yeah, he [Snyman] is a great player,” says McCarthy. “I love trying to learn from different people. Different perspectives are class, even now we’ve got Jason [Jenkins], he’s South African and brings something different. It’s class learning off him and Jacques already. We’ve got Goodie from New Zealand obviously, Leo is world class, Robin [McBryde] from Wales, it’s unbelievable having so many different thinkers of the game. I love just soaking up as much as I can. The more voices the better.”
