JUST THREE MINUTES into Leinster’s Champions Cup campaign, it was Garry Ringrose who set the tone with a thunderous tackle.

The 29-year-old has always been a smart, hard-working defender but recent seasons have seen him become more aggressive. We’ve heard Ireland and Leinster coaches and players commenting more often on how Ringrose leads the way physically.

Ringrose comes across as a polite, respectful, understated person off the pitch but he certainly goes to a darker place when he steps onto it. At times, his pursuit of dominant moments in tackles can even leave him at risk of injuring himself.

“I think the mindset when you don’t have the ball, you have got to be all-in,” says Ringrose.

“I think it’s reflective of everything when we’re defending, Leinster and Ireland, and not overthink it, it’s just a place you’ve to get yourself and stay there.”

It was Bristol out-half AJ MacGinty, a fellow Blackrock College alumnus, who felt the force of Ringrose’s defensive quality when they faced Leinster last month.

MacGinty was seen as the key to Bristol unlocking Leinster’s aggressive defence. The USA international is clever in the face of linespeed, with his deft skills and vision allowing him to put team-mates into slivers of spaces.

But MacGinty didn’t get a chance to do that against Leinster as Ringrose ended his night before it had really started. MacGinty was helped off in visible pain after this completely legal tackle.

The tackle comes on second phase of a Bristol lineout attack, with Pat Lam’s side having won the gainline on first phase. They’re keen to test Leinster out on the left but Ringrose reads their intention well.

As we see above, Bristol end up with a three-man stack [red] and have centre Kalaveti Ravouvou [yellow] running a front-door line off flanker Fitz Harding at the front of the stack.

Ringrose [blue below] recognises the threat of Ravouvou [blue] running at his inside shoulder but is also aware that out-half MacGinty [red] is set to swing out the back of Ravouvou as the back-door option for Harding.

Ringrose is also assessing Leinster’s defensive situation and he initially moves towards Ravouvou as it looks like his centre partner, Robbie Henshaw, might have to deal with Harding.

But as Sam Prendergast gets to Harding, meaning Henshaw is available to turn out onto Ravouvou, Ringrose reacts decisively by focusing solely on MacGinty.

Jacques Nienaber’s defensive system demands that players like Ringrose are ultra-aggressive in situations like this and the Leinster number 13 gives a great example here.

Ringrose knows that right wing Jordan Larmour [yellow below] is almost certain to be blitzing up and in with him, while fullback Ciarán Frawley [red] will be closing up from the backfield.

So even if MacGinty manages to get quickly shift the ball on to centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who is swinging up outside him, Larmour can shut Janse van Rensburg down.

If MacGinty manages to throw a bridge pass over Larmour’s head, Ringrose has an awareness that Leinster’s system means Frawley will be closing up and players on his inside will be working extremely hard to catch-up across the pitch.

“I know 13 is said to be difficult to defend, but a lot of it depends on what the guys around me are doing,” says Ringrose.

“It allows me to make reads or even the ones that I’ve missed or any of us have missed, the wingers, the fullbacks kind of cover for that.”

So all of this gives Ringrose confidence but he certainly doesn’t miss here. The Leinster centre accelerates aggressively to close MacGinty down before he gets the ball away.

Ringrose hammers into MacGinty and the ball comes off his head into the Bristol 22, where Larmour does superbly to tackle fullback Rich Lane.

Bristol are under intense pressure and throw a forward pass on the next phase to hand Leinster a gilt-edged attacking chance.

As much as the brilliant platform this bit of Leinster defence gives them, it is a vicious statement of their intent. Inside the opening minutes, the visitors have completely shut down the Bristol attack and taken their key playmaker, the man who potentially had the keys to unlock them, out of the game. 

Ringrose is the man to deliver the painful blow.

Leinster’s outside centre is a key man in what has been a superb defence this season, with Nienaber’s men conceding an average of just 11.8 points per game in both competitions so far.

On top of regularly stopping opposition attacks from scoring, Leinster have been forcing turnovers like the one above.

Ringrose’s ability to read play intuitively is helpful and he has enjoyed getting to grips with detail of Nienaber’s system over the past two seasons, having been on the other side of it with Ireland in the past.

“It’s interesting definitely from the perspective of preparing to play against South Africa in the past and trying to understand what Jesse Kriel or Lukhanyo Am were doing and why and obviously talking to him and learning off him it makes sense,” says Ringrose.

The instance above is another example of Ringrose’s ability to cover different options without sacrificing his ability to be very aggressive.

Initially, Ringrose [red below] is slower and more deliberate with his steps even as he comes forward, ensuring he will be able to tackle the front-door option [yellow] if that’s where the pass goes.

But as he reads the pass to the back-door option [blue below], Ringrose suddenly bursts into an acceleration to go and make a ball-and-all spot tackle.

Ringrose’s aggression forces a handling error in this instance and Leinster can switch into attack again.

In the example below, Bristol are trying to run the ball out of their own 22, as is their way.

Ringrose [13] is assessing the options in midfield, with Ravouvou [yellow] looking like the front-door option as Janse van Rensburg [blue] shapes to bounce out the back of Ravouvou.

Ideally, Ringrose wants to be able to get to Janse van Rensburg and deny Bristol the chance to move the ball wide but he appreciates that his own centre partner Henshaw [12 above] might not be able to get out onto Ravouvou as he worries about ball-carrier Jack Bates.

Ringrose does a brilliant job, initially shaping to shoot up outside Ravouvou and onto van Rensburg, as we see below.

That dissuades Lane from passing out the back to van Rensburg.

But as Lane squares up to fix Henshaw before passing, Ringrose is adjusting in onto Ravouvou.

Ringrose keeps both defensive options alive until the very last moment when Lane passes, whereupon Ringrose turns in to land a tackle on Ravouvou.

Ringrose’s tackle gives Leinster a decent shot at a breakdown turnover and though Bristol manage to hold onto the ball, they make an error on the next phase again.

It’s another big defensive win for Leinster.

By his own admision above, Ringrose does also miss tackles for Leinster when he’s trying to be aggressive in defence.

We get one such example below against Bristol when Ringrose blitzes up and in but fails to stick his tackle on Janse van Rensburg.

Jansen van Rensburg obviously does well to evade Ringrose at the last split second here, dummying and stepping inside him.

Brisol end up being tackled in line with the preceding ruck, but Ringrose still would have loved to land his tackle after making such an aggressive read.

That said, Nienaber expects tackles to be missed given the sheer aggression of Leinster’s system. He says he doesn’t care about tackle success stats.

“As long as the attitude is good and the technique is good and you miss a tackle, you’re going to miss a million in your career,” is how Nienaber puts it.

“You must get over it and it’s onto the next battle. Because of your quality as a rugby player, you will win more tackle battles than you will lose if you’re in this environment.”

The only defensive stats that matter in Nienaber’s mind?

“Points and tries conceded, it’s all that counts. Simple as that.”

The last two times Leinster have faced La Rochelle, they have limited them to scoring just nine and 13 points. Ringrose will be important if they’re to do similar this Sunday.