Ross Byrne can’t remember the last time he lost four games in a row.
Defeats with Leinster never came in quantities greater than two. High-profile, season-ending defeats in Europe were painful but generally preceded by victories.
In new digs at Gloucester, Byrne’s stint in the west country has started with four losses on the spin. It’s one of a number of changes after handing in his blue shirt for a cherry and white one.
Having lived in Goatstown and Ranelagh while calling UCD and the RDS his workplace, a move from Dublin’s rugby bubble to Cheltenham is the most obvious place to start. The diminished media interest in the English club game also comes up. Byrne is no longer recognised walking down the street.
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On the pitch, a squad full of Ireland internationals has been swapped for one of England’s most inexperienced groups. Tactical changes, structures, coaching parlance; it’s all new. Goal-setting has also seen a dramatic change. Gloucester are undoubtedly keen for silverware, but perspectives are different here.
“Europe hasn’t been mentioned once,” says Byrne. “In Leinster – and I’m not saying one is right or wrong – everything was focused towards that. Here, when Europe comes up we’ll talk about it, but obviously the league is week-in, week-out.
“That’s a big change, the competitive nature of the league as well, which we’re on the receiving end of at the moment.”
On the face of it, Byrne’s reasoning behind leaving Leinster seems obvious. His place in the pecking order dropped. Players want to play.
He started the 2024 Champions Cup final defeat to Toulouse in London. But the following season, after his dropgoal heroics in South Africa, Ciarán Frawley was given the 10 jersey for the clash with Munster which, for many, signals the start of the season proper. Sam Prendergast then took the wheel once Europe came along. Ireland’s outhalf pecking order dripped down to provincial level.
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Including Byrne’s younger bother, Harry, Leinster had four international 10s. It was impossible to keep all of them happy. Something had to give. In a way, by turning down the opportunity to stay, Byrne made Leinster’s decision for them.
“The way last season panned out, I wasn’t playing as much as I would have liked,” Byrne acknowledges. “The way things changed in the group, I probably wasn’t enjoying my rugby as much; I felt I wasn’t developing as much as I wanted as a player.
“There was a clear shift in terms of what they [Leinster] were trying to do. They’d picked other people and I wasn’t being given the opportunities that I had been given previously. I was playing a lot of games off the bench; I couldn’t have the same influence. I was 29 and felt like I had a lot to offer.”
The pecking order wasn’t the only change highlighted by Byrne. Leinster’s shift in defensive strategy since the arrival of Jacques Nienaber has been well documented. A public narrative took hold at the time that the shift to high line speed and breakdown shenanigans took up the majority of Leinster’s attention, leaving an attacking game shorn of training paddock polish.
While full of praise for Nienaber, his track record and the effectiveness of his defensive philosophy, Byrne cuts a frustrated figure on the attacking downfall. He also points to the semi-regular change in identity of those responsible for Leinster’s attack – in part due to promotions to Andy Farrell’s Ireland staff.
“Stuart [Lancaster] left and then Andrew Goodman took over. When Andrew Goodman left, Tyler [Bleyendaal] came in.
“Previously, Stuart was there for seven years, then Felipe Contepomi was there for three or four years. Before them was Girvan Dempsey. There was a lot of consistency, the team was constantly evolving.
“When you bring in different attack coaches, they’re always going to have little subtleties and then even the style of training changed quite a bit under the new defensive system. Because it was such a drastic change in system, a lot of time had to be given to that, rightly so.
“You saw how good it was, but that had a little bit of an impact. The attack was probably looked at slightly less. The nature of training sessions would have changed quite a lot in terms of what we were used to.”
A cocktail of changes in personnel, tactics and pecking order ultimately led Byrne to make the biggest change of all: leaving the system towards which he was geared ever since his schoolboy days in St Michael’s.
His frustration at the pecking order illustrates an underlying belief that he was as good as the outhalf alternatives. Elite athletes have to back themselves. There’s no point in turning up if you don’t believe you’re better than the other fella. Coaches don’t always agree.
We don’t know why Farrell and Leinster head coach Leo Cullen decided other outhalf options were the way to go. Byrne himself says a detailed conversation comparing strengths and weaknesses was never had.
Instead, interested members of the rugby-watching fraternity have to come up with their own theories. It’s always dangerous trying to claim one idea or another has earned the label of public consensus. Yet one theory posited more than most was that, while a strong game manager, Byrne lacked the athleticism and attacking skillsets of his competitors.
“It’s definitely a narrative which is pushed out there,” Byrne acknowledges. Does he disagree? “Strongly.”
“One of my biggest strengths is getting the other backs around me to play well. People probably don’t see subtle things, [such as] releasing them into space.
“Being able to grow that is a big thing – my own passing game, decisions at the line, running game. That’s always something I’m looking to push on, which I think has already gotten better this season.
“I find it quite funny how the world is now with social media, online abuse, how the radio or pundits are such a big factor with how they spin narratives or push certain things in certain directions.
“In all my years in Leinster, I don’t think anyone ever said anything to me in person. Obviously, plenty of things were written online, but no one came up to me and said anything negative. If they did, it was a bit of craic with a Munster fan, but I always find rugby fans are very sound.”
Given Byrne long ago surpassed a century of Leinster caps, in a position of such importance, highlights and lowlights are an inevitable topic of conversation. Somewhat unfairly, the question is framed in terms of his “first” stint in Ireland’s system. The toxic Irish trait of assuming everyone will come home once they’ve scratched the itch of playing abroad is difficult to shake. “That’s been pushed a few times,” laughs Byrne. “‘Will you go back home?’”
Semantics aside, he started two of Leinster’s three consecutive Champions Cup final defeats, in 2023 and 2024. The latest disappointment, last season’s semi-final meltdown against Northampton, reflected the new order. Byrne got just four minutes off the bench that day.
“Finals are hard to win,” he says. “We were playing against some of the best teams in the last 10 years of the competition. Mentally, you could go back [and ask] were there things you could have fixed. Unfortunately, hindsight is great – the best player, best coach there’s ever been.
“That’s why the URC (United Rugby Championship) last year was so satisfying, it felt like a relief that we can do it. There’s a massive stigma built up: ‘Leinster can’t do it when it gets to the big day’.
“Even last year against Northampton . . . it was different to the other ones. The finals, the overall emotion was heartbreak, devastation. They all felt like they were there for us and we couldn’t get over the line. Last year felt really in our control. Northampton, to be fair to them, deserved it – they were probably the better team.
“The overriding emotion was pure frustration more than anything. Particularly with how we performed in the two previous games [nilling Harlequins and Glasgow in the other knockout rounds], that was a factor as well. It was unbelievably frustrating to have such little time and influence on the game.”
As for Byrne’s highlights in blue, the match-winning kick while cramping against Ulster is remembered as a strong individual display in Europe. “To be honest, the European big games always stand out but there are a lot of other games,” he says.
“Particularly against the Irish provinces, the Stephen’s Day games against Munster, winning down in Thomond Park. I only ever lost to Munster once, which was always nice. That was my first game in Thomond Park, that was a big learning curve.
“Being able to win multiple trophies – that’s what it’s about – with lads you went to school with, lads you came up through the system with. Some of the best days of my life really.”
Now feels as good a time as any to offer a reminder of Munster’s Champions Cup date with Gloucester in December. In Thomond to boot.
Before then, winning a game is top of Byrne’s wishlist. Exeter away on Saturday doesn’t appear to offer the simplest of opportunities for the duck to be broken. Still, despite the rough start, Byrne puts himself forward as a happier camper. The challenge at Gloucester is different to what he’s used to, but there is no buyer’s remorse, no temptation to wonder what might have been had he stayed and fought for his starting place.
“No, I am very happy with my decision.”
