On the eve of Leinster’s departure to South Africa last week, Sean O’Brien was put in front of the media before his first away game as part of the province’s coaching ticket and, remarkably, his first ever trip to South Africa.
The former British and Irish Lions, Ireland, Leinster and London Irish backrower spoke of taking his teething steps into coaching this season and how his relatively scaled down role of contact skills coach permitted him time to spend on his farm in Tullow – where he is happiest, really.
This week, O’Brien has effectively been elevated to the role of stand-in head coach following Leo Cullen’s decision to return home and help Stuart Lancaster, Andrew Goodman, Robin McBryde and Emmet Farrell in preparing the frontline squad for Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final against five-time winners Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium.
It’s a nice, handy one too. Away to the Bulls, who beat a first-choice Leinster at the RDS in the semi-finals last June, who have won eight out of 10 home games this season, who beat Zebre 78-12 last Saturday, and in the second of Saturday’s double-header at Loftus Versfeld (kick-off: 4pm local time/3pm Irish) in front of a huge crowd are gunning to climb at least one place and so ensure Champions Cup qualification and with Leinster a prized scalp in 22 games this season.
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The Tullow Tank may be about to have a better idea whether he has the bug for this coaching lark. He has Simon Broughton, the academy manager, and Aaron Dundon, one of Leinster’s elite player development officers, assisting him. “Us three are running the show for the week,” he added, not seeming remotely fazed.
“I don’t know if that [stand-in head coach] is my title or not but I’m enjoying the whole experience of it anyway and how the week is running. I suppose I’ve seen it week-in, week-out now for the last while so it’s nice to develop my own little and add what I see fit.
“And get Leo out of here for a while. Everyone’s happy,” he added, laughing.
Leinster are liable to grant more exposure to the other younger players in their 30-man squad, albeit their chances next Saturday have been further hindered by losing their captain Rhys Ruddock due to the hamstring injury he sustained in their stealthy comeback win over the Lions last Saturday. Vakhtang Abdaladze is also a doubt with a neck injury.
So be it. This two-game safari is as much about exposing young players, following on from Sam Prendergast’s uber-composed, Man of the Match debut in Johannesburg.
“He’s definitely comfortable at that level. He’s a confident young fellah,” said O’Brien of the 20-year-old. “There’s lots of areas in his game to develop. He needs to develop physically but in terms of his game-knowledge and the way he runs the team, you can see the potential he has.
[ Rhys Ruddock ruled out of Leinster’s clash with the Bulls with hamstring injuryOpens in new window ]
“It’s great that he’s getting the opportunities now. In the environment he’s learning off Johnny, Ross and the more experienced lads ahead of him. And that’s what it’s about for him, getting more minutes, getting more game time, keep the experience side of it. Every minute he gets on the pitch is going to stand to him.
“So, yeah, he’s been great out here, as have all the younger lads. There’ll be more of them who’ll probably get an opportunity this weekend.”
To that end, O’Brien said his message to this relatively callow group of players was simply: “Attack the week, get excited about the week ahead.”
Leinster missed 22 tackles and leaked eight line breaks in conceding five tries against the Lions and O’Brien admitted this had been a focus early this week for what he acknowledges is a Bulls team full of weapons.
From next season onwards, of course, Leinster will have Jacques Nienaber aboard as senior coach, something O’Brien hailed as “a brilliant appointment”.
“From my own point of view, learning how he works from that ‘D’ side of things, we haven’t really had a South African influence at Leinster so it’ll be good to have a new voice, new ideas, his experience at the top level.
“I’m looking forward to meeting him, chewing the fat with him and seeing what plans he has.”
