THE LAST TIME Kurt McQuilkin briefed the media with his wise words, there was a dark cloud hanging over Leinster’s UCD base.
The province’s forgettable European campaign had ended with that chastening defeat to Wasps and Leo Cullen was tasked with lifting his charges for the remainder of the campaign.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and Leinster find themselves in a strong position heading down the final stretch of a season which could yet end on a positive note.
Victory in Cardiff last time out lifted Leinster into second in the Pro12 standings and consolidated their place in the play-off berths.
A significant factor in their upturn in fortunes has been the improvement in defence, under the tutelage of McQuilkin, with Cullen’s men conceding just 14 tries in the league this term.
And the Leinster defence coach admits there’s been a change in strategy.
“The coaches and the players have put their heads down and bums up and really worked hard since those sort of encounters and they’re doing well at the moment but it can change awful quick too.
“Being with Cheiks [Michael Cheika], you do look back and you do look for comparisons and there are a few coming through and we’re on our way on that path hopefully so I’m really happy with the way the guys have applied themselves.
“We’ve implemented a different system and they’re all buying into it and happy with the progression to date but still a bit of work still to do. “When you’ve got a solid group of players to work with, day in, day out and you can do a lot of remedial work, individual work, it helps a hell of a lot.”
Leinster’s next assignment comes this Sunday with a trip to face Italian side Zebre, who have enjoyed their own revival of late having pushed both Munster and Connacht close in recent games.
McQuilkin closely studied Connacht’s high-scoring win in Italy and he was impressed with what he saw from the hosts and is under no illusions of the task ahead.
“I think we’re going to strike a different animal when they’re at home,” he said of the Italians. “They’re a lot more confident at home and the coach tends to give them a lot more freedom also so their attack will probably be a lot wider and they like playing at home, they feed of their crowd.
“Defensively their coach lets them shoot out of a defence and make a few reads so if they make a few big hits early on, their tails will go up and it could be a long day at the office so we have to be very careful.
“They looked dangerous, they scored thirty-odd points so they’re a dangerous side. If we give them a sniff and probably the Connacht boys will admit they gave them a chink of light, they’re certainly well capable of scoring points.
“It’s a reminder to us that we’re not going over on a jolly, she’s going to be a tough old game.”
Leinster will be without 15 players through international duty but McQuilkin issued a clean bit of health following the game in Cardiff with just some minor ‘bumps and bruises’ the only war-scares from an attritional encounter.
Both Dave Kearney and Sean O’Brien, who have been ruled out of the remainder of the Six Nations, have been back at Leinster HQ this week and will continue their recovery under the watchful eye of the province’s medical team.
There is no timeline set for either player to return but McQuilkin revealed it will be known if they will line out again this season sometime next week.
For now, however, the focus is on which players Cullen and the management have at their disposal ahead of a trip to Parma at the weekend.
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It needs to be banned immediately. Nash has opened up a can of worms here the GAA don’t seem prepared to deal with. TJ has already joined the party and the rumour is that Tony Kelly has been getting the ball almost into the 6 yard box at trainings down in Clare.
It’s extremely dangerous and anybody arguing otherwise almost certainly hasn’t played in goal or across the full back line. It had better not take sterilised full back or a collapsed throat to get this fixed.
Are u from Clare or something ?? Helmets are already there !! Does this mean u can’t shoot inside the box ?? Other players have been doing it for years and its just because Nash can hit them perfectly people are complaining.
I’m from Dublin, word has it Clare are going to be doing this even worse this year, and Kilkenny and Cork. I’m Sure the Dubs and Tipp and Galway are all lining up someone for it as well. I explained in another post how it’s distinctly different to open field play as the backs and goalkeepers movement and positioning is restricted.
Why don’t we just let them hoist the ball into the box and smack it 2 inches from peoples faces. There has to be a limit, the helmet wont stop broken rib and ruptured testicles. Players need to be given reasonable capacity to protect themselves. That can either take the form of a restricted carry distance or allowing them to rush the striker
It’s one of the most unique and exciting aspects of hurling.. if there are safety issues re players necks, there is nothing stopping neck guards being kept behind the goal, like face-masks are kept for short corners in field hockey.. clip them onto helmets like with ice hockey helmets.
So neck guards and cups for crotch protection. Should they just strap on full body armour to stand in goal? We got by fine for decades but one breach of the honour code has opened up the floodgates on this.
Honour code?.. it’s been done for decades.. DJ Carey was particularly adept at it.. plus penalty takers know there’s a risk of over carrying.. like Nash’s botched drop-shot effort in the final last year.. next up will be a ban on any form of point blank shooting.
It was never to this extent. The issue is that it forces the goal keeper and defenders into the most dangerous possible position on the hurling field, middle distance. In open play point blank shooting is grand because goal keepers and defenders have the opportunity to get into one of several safe positions, behind the man to hook, in close to block, out of the way altogether or far enough away that you can read the flight of the ball and block or dodge. It’s also not possible to get the same kind of power on a shot from open play as from a penalty.
But with these shots you’re too close to dodge or reasonably attempt to protect yourself but you’re not allowed move up to block. The rules force you to be in a position no player would get themselves in in open play because it’s dangerous. If they’re not going to stop the carry then they need to let the keeper and backs rush the striker
What nonsense, I’m surprised at Ger. Bearing in mind you can strike the ball even harder from the hand, does this mean you won’t be allow to shoot inside the box during open play either?
Declan Ryan tipperary and clonoulty-rossmore and former tipp manager was the man who invented the style, it’s a great skill and a penalty is a penalty, Ciaran there would want to cop himself on there and keep his bullshit to himself. That is all