ULSTER WEREN’T THE first team to go after Jacques Nienaber’s Leinster defence with attacking kicks and they won’t be the last.

Watching this Leinster defence has quickly become one of the most interesting things about the Irish rugby season. It obviously remains a work in progress given that Nienaber has only had five games in charge so far and had no pre-season with the team.

While some are rushing to judge Leinster’s defence now, the best time to reflect on it is when they reach knock-out rugby. That’s where they’ve come up short in the past two seasons and Nienaber has been brought in to make a difference there. 

Ulster gave him food for thought. There’s always space presented by aggressive defences, usually just behind or outside the edge of the onrushing line, but getting there is far from easy against the good ones.

Attacking kicking is a difficult skill. There are only a few players who are elite in this area. That’s why we don’t see successful attacking kicks all the time. The skill and nerve required to pull them off is underappreciated.

Billy Burns showed that he is still one of the best at chipping and cross-kicking in the New Year’s Day win over Leinster. Ulster came to the RDS with a good plan having seen how other teams took on Nienaber’s defence.

Above, we see La Rochelle going after the chip space in phase play attack and they nearly regather the ball.

We can see how intent Leinster are on getting forward off the defensive line here, with no one easing off to cover about the possibility of a chip in behind. Nienaber wants the frontline defenders to get off the line aggressively every time they can.

A week later, we saw Sale cleverly pick out a similar space with a two-phase lineout play.

On first phase, they play off the front of a five-man lineout to carry in midfield, where Ciarán Frawley and Robbie Henshaw make a good tackle to win the gainline for Leinster.

But winning the gainline with that carry is not Sale’s focus. Instead, they are teeing themselves up to kick short in behind Leinster on second phase.

It’s scrum-half Raffi Quirke – who is set to become Ireland-eligible this November unless he plays for England again – who rolls a delightful grubber behind the advancing Leinster frontline.

The kick works so well because Leinster are so concerned with getting off the line to close down space.

As with Henshaw in the La Rochelle example, Garry Ringrose shoots up without waiting to see if there is any kick threat.

In another defensive system, Ringrose might be a little more hesitant to take those aggressive first few steps.

In this case, he and the defenders on either side of him can’t react quickly enough when they realise Quirke has kicked, with Sale out-half Rob du Preez flooding through to regather the ball.

Leinster have two backfield defenders in Hugo Keenan and Jimmy O’Brien but they are in deep positions to cover possible long kicks from Sale and with Quirke putting the perfect weight on his kick, du Preez can beat Keenan to the ball, draw in O’Brien, and put Connor Doherty over for a wonderful try.

It’s a clever play from the Sharks but also a sublime bit of skill from Quirke, who usually kicks with his right foot. He could easily over-kick here, allowing Keenan to hoover the ball up, or underdo it to allow Leinster to tackle du Preez, but he nails it.

Burns did something similar for Ulster’s stunning first try at the RDS, dropping a perfect chip over Leinster’s defence on first phase of a lineout attack.

Just as Sale did, Ulster play off the front of a five-man lineout, which invites Leinster’s frontline defence even further up the pitch as scrum-half John Cooney has to make a longer pass to Burns.

Outside Burns, Ulster run some decoy work that further attracts Leinster’s eyes and attention.

Inside centre Stuart McCloskey [red below] has his hands up beckoning for a short pass, with flanker Sean Reffell just inside him, which further entices Leinster out-half Sam Prendergast forward at speed.

Number eight Nick Timoney [pink above] is a little wider and interests Henshaw, while Luke Marshall [yellow] darts diagonally out the back as wing Rob Baloucoune runs a similar-ish line, ensuring Leinster outside centre Liam Turner is concerned about a pullback pass.

Ulster fullback Will Addison [blue] is relatively narrow to ensure that Leinster’s right wing Tommy O’Brien definitely comes forward at pace too, as the defensive system demands of him anyway.

Meanwhile, Leinster fullback Frawley is out of shot but positioned to close up on the right side of the defence [black below] to deal with Ulster wing Jacob Stockdale if the ball is moved wide. Frawley can also cover any attempt at a wide kick on first phase. 

Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park [orange] is in the five-metre channel and his role is to hold there, making him the edge defender if Ulster end up playing back to that side.

So that means left wing Rob Russell [white above] is the other backfield defender. He starts deep behind the lineout to cover kick space there and his job appears to be two-fold.

Firstly, he needs to race across the backfield if Frawley has to close up wide on Leinster’s right. And secondly, it appears as if Russell is the cover in behind if Ulster do attack that space with a kick.

We don’t know how Leinster have reviewed this try and whether Nienaber feels Russell could have been a little higher up the pitch but even if that had been the case, the perfection of Burns’ kick would have seen Ulster regather the ball. 

Again, it’s so easy to overcook or underdo this kind of kick, or drop the ball inaccurately, or simply make a poor connection with the ball.

Landing a chip kick only 10 metres upfield with such minimal hangtime is truly difficult, even without defenders coming at you.

Burns’ technique is a delight here as he slightly tilts the ball back – aiding the chances of it sitting up nicely on the bounce – and lifts his leg up to the ball rather than dropping the ball down to his foot.

And rather than swinging through the ball, Burns just dinks his foot to it and then pulls his foot away from the ball after the strike, again improving the chances of it sitting up but also making sure there’s not too much power in it.

Nienaber will probably have felt Leinster actually could have put more pressure on Burns here and maybe even blocked the kick.

Dan Sheehan, the tailgunner coming from the lineout, and Will Connors, the first defender in the defensive line, both sit off Burns just a hint. Nienaber will likely ask them to go all-out to stop the ball next time, with no hesitation whatsoever.

As it is, the ball sits up for Timoney on the bounce as he surges through and Russell is unable to land firm contact onto the Ulster number eight as he closes up.

Again, Nienaber may feel that Russell could have done more here, at least slowing Timoney down, but it’s a difficult situation for the Leinster wing as he has to accelerate to close the space, then readjust in a bid to tackle Timoney – who has done well initially to keep himself onside before chasing and can then accelerate to catch the ball without really breaking stride.

Frawley and Gibson-Park scamper back for Leinster but it’s a fine finish from Timoney and a superb score from Ulster.

It will be intriguing to watch how teams attack Leinster on first phase given how keen they are to close down space in front of them even with a relatively narrow set-up.

Sale got outside them with this smart play on first phase of a lineout attack.

We can see how Leinster right wing Jordan Larmour [in the spotlight below] is almost in the middle of the pitch and high up on the edge of the defensive line.

The genius of this play from Sale is that the obvious recipient of the pass here is out-half du Preez [red above], who has his hands up signalling for it. If du Preez does receive the ball, Larmour is in a wonderful position to close up and make a dominant tackle on him.

But instead, the pass is flashed across the face of du Preez to right wing Tom Roebuck [yellow above].

That means Roebuck gets outside Larmour, then fullback Hugo Keenan has to close up on opposite number Telusa Veainu, and Veainu in turn sends left wing Arron Reed haring into space.

Leinster do stop Reed as Jimmy O’Brien makes an excellent tackle covering across in the backfield, but Henshaw is sin-binned a few phases later for a tackle off the ball as Sale threaten to score.

Leinster conceded two other tries against Ulster and while the focus around the second score has understandably been on Burns’ kick, Nienaber would have been disappointed at his team giving up a linebreak from a favourable starting position.

Ulster are preparing for a probable box kick just outside their 22 when the ball comes off a Leinster player rolling away, John Cooney pops off a pass, Leinster lock Joe McCarthy shoots up looking to shut the ball down but Rob Herring gets the ball away to Reffell and he goes through a missed tackle from the adjusting Cian Healy.

It’s an unusual pinball-like situation but Leinster will feel they could have stopped this try at source.

Instead, Reffell breaks out, draws Sam Prendergast up from the backfield, and sends McCloskey haring up towards the Leinster 22.

As we can see below, Frawley works across from the right side of the backfield to deal with McCloskey along with the hard-working Russell, who shows great pace to track back.

This means that Frawley and Russell, who are both a key part of the backfield defence, have now committed into the tackle.

We can see Frawley [yellow above] getting back to his feet as Caelan Doris jackals over McCloskey, while Russell [pink] is buried at the bottom of the breakdown.

With Leinster hastily retreating, they’ll be left with essentially an empty backfield on the next phase, with Frawley remaining in this position close to the ruck, Russell unable to get up, Prendergast filling into the frontline, right wing Tommy O’Brien out on the edge, and Gibson-Park still in retreat mode.

Any time a team breaks up one side of the pitch, the defence tends to be narrowed up as they track back to deal with the linebreak. That obviously leaves them narrow on the next phase, as is the case for Leinster here.

That said, the ruck after McCloskey is tackled lasts for a full seven seconds thanks to Doris’ jackal effort and Nienaber will probably feel his players could have worked a little harder to get better set for the next phase, both in the frontline and the backfield.

As it is, they continue to come forward at speed even after such a big linebreak and without great width in their line or backfield cover.

With Marshall holding width out on the left for Ulster and screaming for the ball, Burns has spotted the chance to kick to space but a poor pass from Rob Baloucoune forces him to adjust, which the Ulster out-half does brilliantly.

Watch above how Burns scoots back downfield to get behind Matty Rea, whose instinct is to carry the ball until Burns shouts at him to play it out the back, then calmly grubbers a lovely diagonal kick out to the space on the left.

It’s clear how aggressive Leinster are here even after the linebreak. Right wing O’Brien, the last defender, leads the charge from the edge of the defence.

In many teams, a player in O’Brien’s position wouldn’t come forward at such speed. They might hover in place, hoping that defenders from the inside could catch up and provide defensive support out wide. They might even back away to buy that time for the cavalry to arrive.

But we know that this hasn’t been the case in Nienaber defences. He virtually always wants those edge defenders to go up and very often infield to target the ball before it can be moved wide.

That seems to be the case in Leinster too as O’Brien doesn’t hesitate to close up and in. He is undone by the late movement and call from Burns, though. In the moment below, it looks like O’Brien is just easing off as he seems to expect Rea to carry.

But in the next split second, Rea passes to Burns and O’Brien has to accelerate again. He seems slightly caught off guard and ends up getting into the space between Burns and Addison just outside.

That means Burns is able to step inside O’Brien and get his kick away.

We should say again here that this is a tough spot for O’Brien to be in. He is hugely exposed out on the edge and his instincts are possibly telling him to buy time. Nienaber’s defensive system will involve a big learning curve for all Leinster players but especially the defenders out on the edge.

And on this occasion, there is no safety valve tracking across behind O’Brien, as has repeatedly been the case for the Springboks in recent years. Even when the edge defenders weren’t able to stop the ball, there were often ‘catch-up’ defenders sweeping across from inside with huge work-rate.

In this instance, the linebreak and Leinster’s sluggishness to react during that long ruck mean there’s no cover at all. 

As the scoring phase is launched, Gibson-Park is still working to get back onside as he retreats after the linebreak.

So he has no realistic chance of getting across to make a tackle given how well-weighted Burns’ kick is.

After a slick pick-up on the move, Stockdale even has Marshall outside him but is able to finish untouched himself.

Ulster’s third kick-assisted try was a beauty that appeared to combine good planning with more stunning execution from Burns.

While Leinster could perhaps have defended the kick itself a little better, it was another Burns masterpiece. Nienaber may have been more disappointed with how Leinster allowed Ulster into position from which to kick.

A powerful carry from Marshall through Connors and Henshaw initially gave Ulster momentum.

Then Reffell’s clever inside pass took advantage of Gibson-Park chasing Cooney at a ruck but not stopping the ball and instead leaving a sliver of space.

Leinster did manage to slow the pace of Ulster’s ball on the next couple of phases but the visitors still struck superbly through Burns. 

Stand-in scrum-half Reffell passes to Tom O’Toole, who turns to pull the ball back to Burns, who is completely static as he receives the ball. It’s unusual to see a player standing still like this, suggesting that it’s an option Ulster discussed.

Again, Burns shows poise in the face of advancing Leinster defenders but Nienaber might wonder if Thomas Clarkson or Baird could have got a block on the ball given they were in the vicinity. 

Nonetheless, it is an inch-perfect kick from Burns as the ball floats over the head of Prendergast, the widest defender, and bounces up beautifully for Timoney, who has held width on the left after making the first carry from Ulster’s attacking scrum just outside the 22.

Reading all of this, it might be tempting to think that Leinster’s defence has been a big problem this season but that’s not the case.

They have conceded the joint-fewest tries [3] in the opening two rounds of the Champions Cup and are third-best in the URC by that metric. In the past month alone, they have kept La Rochelle and Munster tryless.

There have been a few teething problems and Nienaber will review every try concession with a critical eye but they would have expected it not to be completely smooth at this stage. Nienaber also understands that their defence will never be completely perfect.

He will already be delighted with some of the Leinster defence in his time in charge.

Moments like the one below against La Rochelle will have thrilled Nienaber, with Ringrose’s aggression spooking opposite number Ulupano Seuteni into an error.

Had Seuteni caught and passed here, La Rochelle might have some ground up the left but Nienaber wants his players to pressure the ball in these instances rather than worrying about what might happen if it goes wrong.

Ringrose’s aggression earns Leinster turnover possession, which is always a prime attacking opportunity. Though nothing comes of the turnover in this instance, Nienaber will want this Leinster defence to have a try-scoring mentality.

In the instance below, Leinster pressurise Sale into an error, with left wing Jimmy O’Brien notably high up the pitch as he snaffles the loose ball.

Something similar occurs below as Ringrose gets high and well infield as he looks to target the ball.

In the instance below, Sale have made a bust down Leinster’s right-hand side but Jimmy O’Brien still gets high and hugely infield on the very next phase.

It’s almost alarming to watch O’Brien thundering up and in, but clearly it’s tough to play against as Sale cough up another turnover.

These are all big plays from the new Leinster defence, forcing turnovers that lift pressure but also spark attacking opportunities against an opposition that now has to scramble to get into defensive shape themselves.

Nienaber has also seemingly made an impact on the Leinster players’ work in the tackle and post-tackle.

They appear to have a renewed focus on stripping the ball from carriers when possible, as Doris does below.

They also continue to jackal for turnovers when the opportunity is clear, although they’re certainly not chasing any lost causes in this regard.

Below, we see hooker Dan Sheehan coming up with the poach.

It has also been noticeable how Leinster have used counter-rucking as a big defensive weapon in recent times.

The rain in some recent games has made this a safer tactic, launching more bodies into defensive rucks when the attack will find it a little harder to go to width, but it makes sense as a strategy in any weather if the opportunity is there.

Watch below how Sheehan makes a tackle and instantly looks to get beyond the ball to lead the counter-ruck, rather than jackaling.

Four Leinster players flood in behind Sheehan to complete yet another clean turnover, although Munster argue that Andrew Porter’s hands go to ground briefly here on the way through. 

We’ve seen Leinster hit high on ball carriers at times, targeting the strip or wrapping the ball carrier up in choke tackles, while they’re still chopping low on other occasions.

In the instance below, Munster have just made a half-break and Leinster have had to retreat but still go forward aggressively.

Larmour has a jackal effort as Scott Penny identifies the forward at the heart of the next Munster pod. Penny goes all out to chop Diarmuid Barron in that position.

This is something Leinster have done well so far under Nienaber with forwards like Penny, Baird, and Doris backed to go all-out to stop the ball early in the phase. They have managed to occasionally hammer the middle forward in the pods of three.

Penny clearly has no concern about breaching the uniformity of Leinster’s linespeed or offering ‘dog legs’ that could be exploited by tip-on or tip-in passes. He is only thinking about hammering Barron. The defenders to either side of him can adjust if Barron somehow gets a pass away.

It’s clear that Leinster are keen to be an all-court defensive team with a full array of different tactics and techniques to call on.

Leinster’s work ‘in the trenches’ in La Rochelle would also have shown Nienaber the kind of mindset these players can bring. The game was arguably decided by two tryline stands from Leinster in either half.

In the first, Connors makes this wondrous chop tackle on the massive Uini Atonio.

And on the very next phase, Connors somehow gets himself underneath Levani Botia, who has one of the lowest centres of gravity in the game.

Connors manages to get under Botia to tackle him to the ground but the La Rochelle flanker can’t resist having a second go and the try is chalked off for double movement.

Then in the second half, Doris and Connors do brilliantly to just about get back to their tryline after a scrum penalty concession – putting themselves onside – in order to tackle the quick-tapping Tawera Kerr-Barlow.

On the next phase, James Ryan makes an outstanding stop on Botia, who even has latch support here.

It’s a superb tackle by Ryan and as Henshaw lends his weight from the other side, McCarthy wraps up the ball to give Leinster a hugely relieved goal line drop out.

Even taking into account the fact that the weather made it difficult for the attack, that performance against La Rochelle was a real statement of what Leinster want to be about defensively under Nienaber.

Indeed, with the game still in the balance in the very last defensive set, Leinster came up with a massive turnover penalty that allowed Frawley to hammer over a 60-metre effort off the tee to wrap up their victory.

Thos passage begins with Ryan and Jason Jenkins dominating the gigantic Will Skelton in a double tackle.

Even with that gainline loss, La Rochelle move the ball wide on the next phase.

Leinster are numbers down but in the 78th minute, they keep coming forward rather than hedging their bets. 

Watch how Ringrose closes up hard in a bid to stop the ball, while Frawley does the same swinging up from the backfield.

La Rochelle have to go nearly 15 metres back downfield to get the ball wide to the left, with the ball floated over Ringrose and beyond Frawley.

That does allow Leinster to catch up from the inside but La Rochelle come up with some slick handling to create space again, sending powerhouse centre Jonathan Danty thundering forward.

It looks ominous for Leinster but Jimmy O’Brien comes up with a superb tackle to stop Danty, with Frawley and Rónan Kelleher then jackaling to slow the recycle down as much as possible.

On the next phase, we see Leinster gain back a little ground.

It’s Henshaw who shoots up on the La Rochelle forward to hit him before he can potentially pass.

A couple of phases later, Baird shuts down Skelton after La Rochelle string together three passes.

Porter joins high on Skelton as the second tackler.

Another phase later, we see more of that Leinster counter-rucking.

Doris and Jenkins hammer the ruck to make things messy for La Rochelle, with Kerr-Barlow under pressure to get the ball away and Josh van der Flier getting close to a jackal turnover at the ensuing breakdown.

Leinster finally pounce on the next phase.

Initially, it looks like there will be a chance wide on the right for La Rochelle.

It’s certainly not a clear-cut try-scoring chance and Leinster have players to cover as those catch-up defenders but it does seem like an opportunity for La Rochelle to move the ball wide to the right to go forward.

However, Gibson-Park [yellow below] gets high and into the eyeline of Reus which likely dissuades him from passing out the back.

Instead, Reus tucks and carries the ball himself.

It’s exactly what Leinster want by encouraging the likes of Gibson-Park to get high in this kind of situation.

Reus is tackled by Kelleher and Henshaw…

… and van der Flier snaps over the ball to earn the turnover penalty.

It’s a thoroughly satisfying way for Leinster’s defence to seal the game.

These are still early days for Nienaber as Leinster’s defensive guru but it has been riveting to watch so far.

In years past, many of Leinster’s regular-season games have been a little humdrum even when they were delivering impressive performances and wins. Now, every single defensive set is a must-watch.

What matters is that Leinster’s defence helps them to a trophy this season.