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Regardless of which team Leinster named this season in the Guinness Pro14, they always had too much on hand for their rivals.
Leo Cullen’s team capped off an unbeatable national season on Saturday when a team that saw players like Johnny Sexton resting for much of the game came out comfortably beating Ulster in the Pro14 final at Aviva Stadium.
Along with that depth, the fact that the province is providing more and more playing talent to its provincial rivals points to ever deeper dominance.
In fact, as former Leinster front line Bernard Jackman told the RTÉ Rugby Podcast, internal training games are occasionally more competitive than some of those the province faces at Pro14.
“Unfortunately at the moment, and this may seem arrogant, but Leinster in some games – Ulster made it competitive and Munster made it difficult – but they sometimes have tougher training sessions on Tuesdays than in a Pro14 game,” he said. said.
“We saw their second set of ropes in Ulster three weeks ago and we beat them comprehensively and that is the problem for Munster and Ulster as when they train against their second rope they rarely come under massive pressure.
“So they only get a chance to learn three or four times a year. So Ulster had a tough game against Toulouse this weekend, but after that they may not play a first-choice Leinster. Again for a long time, while Leinster, if you look at how they’ve changed their game plan, they may find things that work or don’t work on a Tuesday or Wednesday, which is phenomenal for them.
“They don’t care if they’re getting better on a Saturday or Sunday. Leinster fans aren’t worried about Ulster, Munster or Connacht. They’re very focused on just Leinster.”
He added that Ulster “needed four things to go wrong for Leinster” to score their first try last Saturday and “after that they were drunk because Leinster could just get the hang of them.”
Amid Leinster dominance, the future build of the Pro14 also remains in the category of looking at this space and Jackman, along with Donal Lenihan, Wes Liddy, and Hugh Cahill discussed what might happen to the competition.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow the Champions Cup quarterfinals between Leinster and Saracens (3:00 pm on Saturday) with our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app or listen to the commentary live on RTÉ Radio 1.
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