JORDIE BARRETT CONTINUES to look the part in his new Leinster colours. 

Making his first start for the province in his preferred position of inside centre against Connacht on Saturday, across an eventful 80 minutes Barrett was heavily involved.

With Bundee Aki closely watching him throughout, Leinster used Barrett as a decoy runner as Ross Byrne slipped Andrew Osborne in for the game’s opening try. He provided the pass that sent Charlie Tector through for Leinster’s second. He delivered an important hit on Shane Jennings as Connacht chased a late winning score. He then combined nicely with Tector down the wing in the passage leading to Leinster’s game-clinching penalty.

Barrett was perhaps lucky not to see one of his many clashes with Aki reviewed by the TMO – as highlighted by Mack Hansen post-game – but this was another seriously impressive outing from Leinster’s on-loan All Black.

The 27-year-old is now three games into his Leinster career and head coach Leo Cullen can already see his influence rubbing off on those around him.

“It’s even watching (Barrett with Luke McGrath) beforehand, you’re in the gym with Jordie, and it’s the preparation part, how he just goes about his business and the conversations that he’ll have,” Cullen said.

“So Charlie Tector started the game. I’ll give a clue away, he wasn’t due to start the game, but he stepped into the team and between him and Jordie they built that relationship without doing any training (together). So in that space, he really gives a lot of confidence to the younger players around him.

Barrett was player of the match against Connacht. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

“Similar with RG (Snyman) in the second row, he has Diarmuid Mangan in the second row with him, also an academy player just like Charlie Tector is an academy player, just like Gus McCarthy is an academy player beside Jack Boyle who is 22 and Rabah (Slimani) who is a little bit more experienced.”

Barrett, Snyman and Slimani were Leinster’s three headline summer signings and all three started against Connacht, providing an experienced core in a side that showed 13 changes from the previous weekend’s defeat of Clermont.

Eight of Leinster’s starting 15 on Saturday had less than 10 caps to their name.

“Again, that’s the important part of those three individuals in amongst the group that we have. Obviously Lukey, Jack Conan, Ross (Byrne) give us great experience in terms of that 8/9/10 axis, but then there’s a lot of young guys in there if you look through the team.

“So Aitzol (Arenzana-King) on the one wing, Andrew Osborne on the other does unbelievably well for his try, and even similar with guys coming off the bench. So it’s good. Overall we’re pleased to get a win but it’s how could it be perfect with some of the combinations we have?

But yeah, Jordie gives confidence to the person beside him, which is invaluable really.”

The in-form Barrett will surely be involved when Leinster head down the road to Limerick for their annual Christmas interpro with Munster on Friday. While Leinster make the journey having won 10 from 10 across the URC and Champions Cup this season, Munster’s win rate stands at 50%, although they have won all four of their home games.

“It’s very hard to win there,” Cullen said.

“For us it’s what we do this week, so it’s a short week, a six-day turnaround.

“So, if you are off you are off enjoying family time and your loved ones. That’s important. It’s about getting that balance right. There is no point training when you are thinking about family time and when you are in family time thinking about training because you need to be in the moment of what you are doing. It’s the skill at this time of year. It’s easy to say, it’s so much harder to do it. It will always be a great occasion regardless.

“Quite often it comes down to the preparation leading into these games. Thinking back to a couple of games where we might have struggled where a couple of things haven’t gone our way and you are in the game, and it has this snowball effect.

“When you prepare well, start well in the game down there, then you can exert some of the dominance and put the opposition under pressure. So, that’s very 101. Saying it is the easy part, doing it is the hard part.”