LEINSTER’S LINEOUT TOUBLES against Clermont caught the attention of Bernard Jackman on the latest edition Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42. 

“I left the stadium saying, ‘What’s going on with Leinster’s lineout?’ The biggest thing that I could come up with was Ross Molony leaving,” Jackman said.

“That sounds maybe a little bit ridiculous, but Ross had an incredible influence there. He didn’t play every big game, but he did play a lot of them for Leinster because Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster recognised that the lineout was really key.

“He was also a good ball player, but he wasn’t the same type of athlete as Joe McCarthy, James Ryan or Ryan Baird. There’s a premium on that defensively to have people who can bash and counter-ruck, so obviously he’s moved on. But he was the lineout guru in Leinster, he was Leo’s right-hand man.

“He came up with the lineout menu. Even when he didn’t play, he would have had an influence on the options. Now that he’s gone, it just looks like there’s no heir apparent. “

Jackman added: “It’s not just Leinster, but this has obviously impacted Paul O’Connell at Ireland as well, because there’s a lot of the same people involved, bar Peter O’Mahony and Iain Henderson sometimes off the bench.”

“I think the failure here is that over the last five, six or seven years, we have failed to develop really astute lineout callers. 

“Like you saw at the weekend, once the initial plan doesn’t work, Leinster just looked a bit rattled and edgy. It’s not just Leinster. Munster can be the same when Pete isn’t on the field. 

“Connacht, in fairness, have a couple of good lineout callers, but unfortunately, they’re not in the Irish mix at the moment. 

“There’s going to have to be a lot of work done [at Leinster] to develop it and Ireland will benefit from that too,” Jackman said.

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