The top two sides in Irish Rugby will meet at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday as defending PRO14 champions Leinster take on Munster in the second round of the interprovincial derbies.
Leinster enter the match fresh off a dominant 20-3 win over Connacht at the weekend while Munster will travel to Dublin with renewed confidence after a 64-7 win over Ulster at Thomond Park.
Both sides have suffered losses already this season with Leinster dropping points away to the Scarlets while Munster fell short away to both Glasgow and Cardiff, but heading into the derby, both sides are looking very sharp with Leinster’s brilliant attack taking on a Munster defence that conceded the fewest amount of points in the PRO14 last season.
The game will not be as simple as a case of Leinster’s attack versus Munster’s defence, rugby, or sport for that matter, rarely is, but Leinster really clicked in Galway last weekend and were particularly dangerous from the set-piece and when they brought forwards into the role of first receiver.
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In the first clip above we can see Josh van der Flier step into the role of scrum-half while actual scrum-half Luke McGrath moves across to first-receiver with Johnny Sexton hanging out the back as a strike option.
McGrath loops with inside centre Joe Tomane, Garry Ringrose cuts in as a decoy option and Sexton ultimately receives the ball with an inside option in Jordan Larmour and an outside option in Rob Kearney.
McGrath and Sexton make the right options and Kearney is able to get on the outside before finding James Lowe who brushes off the challenge of Cian Kelleher before throwing the ball back into play with Niyi Adeolokun coming across quickly in cover defence.
Maybe a quicker player than Kearney takes advantage of the space on the outside but it’s a perfect move from Leinster with multiple options available depending on what the defence shows.
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Again in the play above we can see that Sexton has been taken away from first-receiver as Jordan Larmour steps in this time and takes the ball from McGrath from the scrum.
Larmour hits Sexton at second receiver on a simple decoy play from the set-piece and the fly-half then hits Ringrose as the strike runner with Kearney used this time as the decoy.
Ringrose looks to get on the outside, just as Kearney had minutes earlier, but Tom Farrell and Kelleher do a good job of showing him the sideline before Lowe does a great job of extending the play by dropping under and making himself available for the pass.
Josh van der Flier nearly coughs the ball up with a poor pass after receiving the offload but it’s another great example of how dangerous Leinster can be from the set-piece and particularly what they can do when Sexton steps out of first-receiver and into the role of second-receiver where he’s given a bit more time and space in the backline.
Another area where Leinster can be dangerous is when they take a forward and put him in as a first-receiver from a ruck. Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan and Devin Toner have filled into this role quite successfully over the last two seasons and again it’s a very simple yet effective setup; pass to a forward at first-receiver from a ruck, short ball and support to short runner, if not, ball out the back to the next receiver with the short runner serving as a decoy.
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In the clip above we see Furlong step in and receive the ball before planting his foot and firing the ball to Kearney in this instance who then skips it on to James Lowe who takes advantage of a four on two overlap by taking the ball to the line and driving through the gap in front of him.
Kearney is the receiver in this instance but we can also see Sexton below fill this role later in the half when Leinster attack out of their 22. Instead of dropping Sexton into the pocket to prepare for a clearance kick, Leinster back Cian Healy to step in and make a decision at first-receiver and the loosehead prop does a great job of taking the ball and firing it to Sexton who acts very quickly to tip the ball onto Garry Ringrose.
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The centre takes the ball and hits Joe Tomane with a nice spiral pass and now Leinster are moving up the field with an attacking opportunity beckoning. Tomane takes the ball on and passes to Kearney but supports him and cleans out to keep possession.
By bringing forwards into positions where they can carry or pass and by utilising Sexton as a second-receiver, Leisnter can offset the opposition’s linespeed but they also take Sexton out of a position where he is more likely to be hit, which is vitally important given how many players look to leave a mark on him every season.
Taking Sexton out of first-receiver is a tactic the champions repeatedly looked to deploy against Connacht and for the most part it worked to great effect.
In the final clip below we can see the Blues again attack from inside their own 22 and work their way towards the sidelines with great alignment and great execution.
Sexton starts the set-piece at first-receiver but quickly loops behind Tomane who ignores the decoy run of Ringrose to find the fly-half who moves the ball to Kearney in space.
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The full-back takes the ball in stride and moves it to Jordan Larmour who dances his way forward from there. Referee John Lacey blows the play up after he gets in the way of the electric winger but Leinster are now in the Connacht half with their own scrum feed as opposed to defending a Connacht line-out in their own half as a result of a clearance kick.
Leinster’s strong attacking shape is just one element of what was a dominant performance. Their attacking structure fails to account for the fact that they had Ringrose dance his way to the tryline, while also stripping ball carriers of the ball in defence, and that they had Cian Healy and Andrew Porter both winning turnover penalties.
Munster put in a much better defensive performance against an admittedly very weakened Ulster side but Johann van Graan will have his hands full this weekend as he attempts to shut down one of the very best attacks in rugby.
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