Leinster are very good at shifting the point of attack too, all the forwards don’t just act as battering rams they’ll shift their feet to hit shoulders meaning defending players are never in on top of rucks directly.
There was an interesting article from one of the fan run sites the other day about “big bold La Rochelle and how they’ll slow down the rucks”. They highlighted the extract same thing that Leinster do consistently. They need to be careful what they ask for there, if you ask someone like Barnes to watch out for that’s he’s going to (or should) ping it for both sides.
The speed of ruck and ball gives you that time though and takes time away from defences. If, as a defender, you're trying to get backonside, then press again, you're still on the turn by the time the ball is out of the ruck.
It's pretty easy to step, pick a contact point on a static defender or even pass if you've got time. It's also a lot easier to hit a line with momentum as if you're a forward getting off the ground from a previous ruck, running over to get to be part of the attacking line and another attack has already started by the time you get there, you've already got the momentum to take the ball, rather than have to time your run precisely.
That uncertainty and multi-layered attack structure means defending teams simply can't commit players to the breakdown either.
Speed makes up for a lot of flaws. If you can kill the speed, I reckon Leinster are vulnerable.
But it's a hell of a tactic and if you've got the accuracy to get it right, very, very difficult to defend against. It's good that's it's a style Ireland are going towards, let's hope we get better at it at an international level and we're not too close to the world cup for countermeasures to start to work.
That was the problem joe Schmitt had, developed that effective Schmittball style but other teams figured out how to counter it within 12 months...
Expecting Munster to compete with sides operating with budget many multiples of ours is unrealistic.
Donal Lenihan isn't impressed
Lenihan has always had an absolutely top drawer moustache.