Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber says they must avoid stubbornness and evolve with new ideas if they are to achieve their goals this season.
Leinster return to URC action this weekend in an inter-pro derby with Connacht, off the back of two hard-fought scrappy wins over Bristol Bears and Clermont Auvergne in Europe.
Nienaber insists that evolving as a team and individuals is important going forward.
“When there’s an abundance of arrogance and when you as a team feel, ‘I don’t have to improve my game, I’m on top of my game anyway. I don’t have to find new ways of doing things’, you don’t evolve because people feel, ‘I’m at the top of my game. I don’t have to improve. I’m winning anyway’.
“As a top club, you are the hare that they chase, you are in everyone’s crosshairs and if you don’t evolve in your leadership style, if you don’t evolve in your playing style, if you don’t evolve in the plans and creativity, teams are always going to catch up to you. I’m not a psychologist, I’m not trying to be clever, it’s just experience of being in teams where we are good at one stage and we were caught up.”
The line-out struggled again against Clermont, and Nienaber said that the team are trying out different strategies, in preparation for subtle changes in the line-out laws that come into effect in the New Year.
From January, there are going to be subtle interpretations on laws that are going to change and one of them is set-piece scrums and lineouts must be formed within 30 seconds. The rule alterations were in affect during the autumn series, but Nienaber said that they are already trialling new methods in-game.
“It is something that we have been working on on the training pitch, speeding up that process, we tried new creative things. And this is what we did this weekend. It’s not just the speed, we felt we had to bring in creativity within our lineout.
“That was the talk before the game, we are going to try new stuff and maybe you go in hindsight, should you do it in Europe, Clermont are quality opposition, and they’ve got a very good line-out defence, like Connacht has, so you can maybe park the evolution in your line-out and do it against a team that’s maybe not as good at contesting line-outs. But the question then is always, ‘Will they ask enough questions of you or will you get a false sense of security?’
“If you do it against a quality opposition, yes, you take risks. And that’s what we are paid to do, take risks as a squad, as a team, as coaches and as players.”
Jordan Larmour will require further assessment this week before a determination is made on his availability after being ruled out of Saturday’s win with a minor injury, while Thomas Clarkson will be sent for further assessment after he picked up an arm injury against Clermont.
James Ryan penned a new year deal yesterday, following Andrew Porter and Tadgh Furlong’s new deals on Monday, and Nienaber is delighted that the 28-year-old has committed his future to Leinster, saying it’s a reflection of the environment they have created.
“I think it’s good for us and for Ireland, and for us the proud thing, and I don’t know if we can claim it, is that whenever a player signs a contract extension it means that they are not just comfortable, but they are happy with what they are getting at the club,” he added.
“And I would have hope that they are happy with the programme, that they feel that their game will progress and they will become better players, but that they’re also comfortable with their strength and conditioning programme and that physically they will still all improve.”