‘If one or two passes stuck, Leinster would have won Champions Cup final’ – Andrew Goodman

Leinster had enough territory, possession and put themselves into enough good scoring positions during their recent Champions Cup final defeat against Toulouse to have changed the narrative around their attack this season.

As it was, however, they were left to rue a host of sloppy unforced errors, the kind of which we don’t generally associate with a team of Leinster’s calibre.

That’s what hurt the most when the squad gathered in UCD last Friday to hold a frank and honest review into why they fell short in a third consecutive European final.

For all that, there is an acceptance that, as was the case for the previous two defeats to La Rochelle, the margins were fine.

Leinster demand such high standards of themselves that most of the criticism aimed at them is nothing they haven’t addressed themselves.

“I’d look at our execution probably in the first 20 minutes that was unfortunately a big part of not getting the result,” attack coach Andrew Goodman said.

​“We gave ourselves plenty of opportunities within the ’22 and final passes, just not catching the ball right or a pass being back/shoulder or communication probably being not there, there’s a number of different areas that we have to be a lot better at in these knockout games to make sure if we do get into the opposition’s ’22 that we do execute those.

“So yeah, it’s been something we’ve talked about, we’ve looked at and know we have to get better, and we’re pushing at training hard.

“You discuss it, you’d be open around it, you ask the players different things, why they think they didn’t quite catch it properly, were they given the comms they need, so it’s open discussions to make sure you get to the solutions, really.

“It’s not a finger-pointing thing, it’s around being really open and the players are a really honest group because they want to get better as well.

“I think you’ve got to really try to replicate that pressure in training around putting the players in those situations as much as possible and, again, making sure you review the trainings and get the learnings through the week and not just on game days.”

Goodman took over the sole responsibility for Leinster’s attack from Stuart Lancaster at the start of the season, and while the Kiwi will leave this summer to join Andy Farrell’s Ireland backroom team, he doesn’t believe the province have moved away from their DNA since Jacques Nienaber’s mid-season arrival as defence coach.

As ever, getting the balance right between the emphasis on attack and defence is crucial, with Leinster determined to prove they remain a potent team with ball-in-hand, starting with Saturday evening’s URC quarter-final against Ulster at the Aviva Stadium.

“I think we just need to execute better when we get the ball,” Goodman insisted.

“I don’t think we would ever be talking about it if one or two of those passes had stuck and it was a different result.

“Yes, we have got to try and get the Leinster way, it needs to be a way where we can be a great, great team with the ball and without the ball, and that’s the challenge.”

Leinster v Ulster: Andrew Goodman previews URC quarter-final

As for the short term, Ross Byrne looks set to continue at out-half this weekend, despite many Leinster supporters hoping to see Ciarán Frawley get an extended run in the No 10 jersey.

Goodman was pleased with Frawley’s performance off the bench in the Champions Cup final and wasn’t concerned about his lack of game-time in such a specialised position in such a high-pressured situation.

“I thought his impact was pretty good, he was good, he didn’t look like he was short of reps as a ‘10’, I thought he came on and was very good in terms of the way he punched onto the ball and took the edges and kicked his goals, massive goals, to get us back into the game,” Goodman added.

“And to step up and have that drop-goal, to have a crack at that, no I didn’t think he was short of reps or looked like he didn’t have enough at ‘10’.

“He’s in the fight. Again, we look at the whole string throughout the week, how they’re playing, training and how they are in the environment so he’s definitely in the fight to be the number one. Ross is at the moment but yeah, I’m sure they’ll keep pushing each other hard and who knows what’s going to happen over the course of the season next year.”