FOUR GAMES INTO the season, Tyler Bleyendaal feels encouraged by what he’s seeing at Leinster.
The New Zealander joined as the province’s new attack coach over the summer and so far, his arrival appears to be running smoothly, with Leinster playing some incisive attacking rugby and sitting top of the URC table.
Last weekend was their best outing yet, with the province comfortably powering to a bonus-point defeat of Munster – during which they delivered a ruthless opening salvo which yielded three tries in just 15 minutes.
It helps that Bleyendaal hasn’t come in and totally overhauled Leinster’s system, but his ideas do differ to that of Andrew Goodman, who is now part of Andy Farrell’s Ireland coaching team.
“We don’t want to be so strict and structured (in attack),” Bleyendaal says.
“These guys have got good skill sets, they’ve got good vision, they’ve got a connection and combination that they’ve developed themselves that you can’t coach. So, that’s a great starting point.
“But it takes time to get what I think I see and what to get out on the field, how to play, and then to see the same pictures.”
The former Munster player has been impressed by how keen his new students are to learn.
“They’re extremely diligent. They really enjoy trying to improve and get better. They put the work in off the field. Extremely diligent, and curious as well. They want to try and grow their game. There are some pretty good players there who have played the game at a high level, some for a long time, but they’re not comfortable where they are at.”
If there is one frustration, it is that Leinster’s attack has been less efficient across the second half in recent weeks.
Against Munster, the province were held scoreless in the second period while a week previously, they put four first-half tries on Benetton but then had to wait until the 78th minute to build on their lead. Last season, there were similar instances of Leinster running up big scores before going long spells without adding further points.
It’s not yet at a stage where Leinster are overly concerned but Bleyendaal admits they are striving to become a more consistent attacking threat over an 80-minute period.
It’s a nice problem to have, that you’re scoring tries fast and early. I don’t think there’s one specific thing, to put the finger on. But we’d definitely like to be scoring more points.
“Like on the weekend, Munster put us under big periods of pressure which we absorbed well I thought. Then we had the chance to get ball in hand in attacking areas of the field but then we lost it, sometimes in one or two phases of having received it.
“So often we were moments away from almost breaking the line, then in the next phase we lost possession and they were running down the other end of the field. It felt a bit like that. It didn’t feel like it was a high kicking or set-piece game. It was just maybe a few errors at the wrong time.”
This weekend the province take on Connacht in Galway, and Bleyendaal says Sam Prendergast will be a live option for selection after returning from Emerging Ireland duty.
The 21-year-old impressed in Leinster’s opening weekend defeat of Edinburgh and has since watched on as Ross Byrne and Ciarán Frawley have swapped into the 10 jersey, with Frawley delivering a smart, composed performance against Munster.
With Harry Byrne also in the mix, that selection battle looks set to rattle on as the season progresses and as a former out-half himself, Bleyendaal feels there are pros and cons to not having one established leading man at 10.
“I think for the players themselves, they want to be able to take control and run the week, but also as a unit, they’ve got to be aligned as the 10s. We want (them) to drive the team forward in the same direction, similar ways, and then add in the individual kind of skill sets or their character on the field, but within how we’re trying to play the game is the key.
“So it’s a balancing act. It’s tough, like there’s four professionals with good intent and want to play in the big matches and there’s a lot of youth coming through and putting more pressure on. So it’s really great, but at times it’s probably not great for the players who are not playing or it’s challenging to keep the motivation or the energy levels high.
“But then when they get the chance, they’re also very professional and diligent, they want to get the job done.
“I thought he went well,” Bleyendaal adds of Frawley. “We had periods when we were under pressure, but we also scored points. I think Frawls is a good threat himself and it’s a real balance.
“You’ve got to be your own threat, you’ve got to make your own plays as a 10 but you’ve also got to make everyone around you better players, and he’s doing a good job at the moment; kicking, direction, ball in hand. So, he had a pretty good outing.”
