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Bryan Keane/INPHO

Baird honing in on fundamentals for Leinster

Ireland’s call will surely come soon enough for the powerful lock.

EVERY TIME RYAN Baird steps up to a new level, the more he looks like the complete package.

Saturday was the 21-year-old’s first European start and, had there been a crowd in the RDS, he would have been the man bringing them to their feet.

While the back-line had to be patched up and shuffled due to injury in the first-half against Northampton, Baird and James Ryan formed the core of Leinster’s pack effort, with the younger St Michael’s alumni igniting the game early with a trademark gallop through open field and a series of crunching contacts on both sides of the ball.

Baird would almost certainly have earned an Ireland debut in recent months were it not for injury, Andy Farrell is fan, but the versatile lock feels he must fine-tune some fundamentals in order to give him a boost into the Leinster side. International honours will follow.

“I guess it’s the basic principles of being a second row,” Baird said when asked where he felt he had room for improvement after his man-of-the-match performance in the scrappy bonus point win over Northampton.

“Hitting rucks and being more clinical around the tight carries. Not going too high, I get found out sometimes when I go too high against big players.

“So, probably those principles of being a second row that I can ingrain now in the next couple of weeks.”

Those weeks will give Baird a chance to get a run of games under his belt after frustrating niggles in October and November. He hasn’t faced Munster in Thomond Park yet and, crowd or no crowd, it’s an experience he is looking forward to.

Playing an inter-pro, it’s up there with Champions Cup, it’s got a different edge to it. Because it’s fellow Irish players against Irish players.”

“You are going up against (the) competition. You’ve got to focus on the match at hand. And if you do have a chance to come up against a fell0w (second row / back row) take your chance, I guess.”

ryan-baird-is-tackled-by-alex-waller Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

As a collective, Leinster have grabbed their opportunities in the opening rounds of Europe with two hands. 10 points out of 10 leave the four-time champions in the driving seat chasing a quarter-final berth and they must feel they can double down when they play Northampton and Montpellier again in January.

As Leinster showed against the Saints in Saturday’s bonus point win, they can rumble over some serious speed-bumps and still come out with maximum return at the full-time whistle. Head coach Leo Cullen noted that the men in his dressing room were not behaving like a group that had just put four tries on a Premiership side. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than enough to seal the required outcome.

“Some good bits to our attack,” said Cullen when asked to look beyond the wrinkles.

“Some good parts to our maul, particularly in the first half. But after that then, I don’t think we really capitalised on some of our opportunities we were creating. 

“So plenty for us to work on.”

Cullen and Baird were both speaking before Munster’s magnificent win over Clermont, so they did not have that to wax lyrical on when looking ahead to next weekend’s inter-pro in Thomond.

After European exploits, both sides will need to rotate. But Baird needn’t be on the outbound tray.

“I was delighted to get out there and get 80 minutes. It’s been a while since I played 80 minutes, so it was nice to have a complete performance and give my best to the team,” said the powerful young lock.

“I’ve never played Munster in Thomond, so all going well, it could be a really cool experience.”

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21 Comments
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    Mute Umpaloompa
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:28 PM

    A head coach who’s never been involved with a heads up style team decides this is how he’s going to play…
    All the talk of happy at training seems to have caused us to lose our aggression.
    A new coach who rewarded form over reputation would have got us off to a good start or at least set us on a path that we can build on.
    Farrell and co are out of their depth. It’s going to be mid table mediocre for the future

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 7:01 PM

    @Umpaloompa: with all due respect what a load of nonsense.. the guy is barely in the chair and having done what was least expected (beating Wales and Georgia losi g to England and France) we are calling for his head..
    For who? Scott Robertson? And what about the millions the IRFU would have to spend to buy out current coaching contracts in the middle of a government bailout?.. Get up the yard and give it time

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    Mute Umpaloompa
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    Nov 29th 2020, 7:43 PM

    @PScald: Yeah I know it won’t happen because it would cost a fortune and the IRFU only have their self to blame. Do you think any top club would go for him if we did get rid of him?
    He claims to be implementing a heads up style yet we now have Joe’s style less the skill level and execution. I don’t see much light at the end of the tunnel

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Nov 29th 2020, 8:38 PM

    @PScald: might as well wait another 2 years to do what plain and simply obvious.

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    Mute Rudiger McMonihan
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:07 PM

    @PScald: it’s not simply a win or loss it’s the manner in which those results happened. The style of play is abysmal. They crash the ball up every time. It’s so predictable that a team with a bunch of semi pro players could stop it. He also picked 8 players in his 23 that were over 30 years old against Georgia. What benefit did the likes of Earls and Healy get from playing in that game?

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:09 PM

    @Umpaloompa: 100% a top club would have him as head coach. Top test teams would have him as defense coach.. I’m not sure about Catt or Easterby but I have faith in Farrell being a success..
    Let’s be honest he’s dealing with playing his 3rd and 4th choice outhalf and trying to find an alternative to Murray.. today was sh1 t but they won. Next week will be a good test

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:09 PM

    @Chris Mc: what is plain and obvious?

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    Mute BMJF
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:35 PM

    @Rudiger McMonihan: yeah 8 players over 30
    In a friendly joke of a tournament – this should have been the summer tour to USA and likes of Harry Byrne needed time

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 10:03 PM

    @Rudiger McMonihan: a team with a bunch of semi pro players didn’t stop it.. they lost…

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    Mute Connachtabu
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    Nov 29th 2020, 10:56 PM

    @BMJF: Harry Byrne! Seriously? He currently is unlikely to get in the starting 15 Leinster in a H cup match for 4-5 year and is no6 oH in the country after sexton, burns, carbery, his big bro and carty!
    Lovely to watch him in the last 20 for L in nothing Pro14 fixtures.
    Work in progress, I think.

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    Mute Daniel Murphy
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:48 PM

    Time for Leo and Stuart, methinks!

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    Mute Stuart Quinn
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:53 PM

    @Daniel Murphy: I’ll get my coat

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Nov 29th 2020, 8:40 PM

    @Daniel Murphy: farrell and easterby are doing a great job.

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    Mute Luke O'Mahony
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:37 PM

    tu rebus omnibus non est punctualis

    It should be the teams motto !!!

    Firefighting a different issue each week is ignoring the bigger problem. If you continue to play the same predictable way you’ll end up chasing your tail all the time

    Develop the pod attack to introduce alternatives not just the middle man single carries , the dummy runner they have introduced isn’t working either. Try a vertical pod or move the pods out to the centre , do something creative and different

    As for the backs , bring the wingers into the midfield , get the full back running hard lines into a switch play , and at least pass the ball to where the player is going instead of where he is .

    Be creative for once

    29
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    Mute Kingshu
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    Nov 29th 2020, 7:34 PM

    I wouldn’t call for a coachs head so quickly but the coaching team have made some basic errors. In the initial squad only having 2 LHs even as fans we could see that was a mistake, how can a professional coaching team make that error. McGrath or Eos should have been in from the start and playimg this game. Playing Bealham at LH? Did Farrell really think he was a better LH than McG or EoS? What was learned? Nothing we already didn’t know. It wasnt fair on Bealham either, how is he going to prove his worth at TH with that game? Playing him at TH and EoS would have taught us a lot more, could have given them both a chance to move up the pecking order. If he wants a player in the squad that can cover TH and LH then play Porter there, as Bealham may not make a squad.

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    Mute BMJF
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:33 PM

    Ah sorry but I’d have respect for Ryan if he called as it was – ‘ that was total muck, totally unacceptable.. we need to take a hard look at what we’re about.. we can’t fix this in one game but we’ve got to improve next week” is what should have been said!! Sick of this small issues we can easily fix waffle

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    Mute Agrippa
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    Nov 29th 2020, 10:18 PM

    Don’t know why but think i would prefer Ryan to concentrate on his own game which is normally top class rather than be burdened by the captaincy at this relatively early stage in his senior career

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