Leinster have lost some key players over the last few years.

Leinster have lost some key players over the last few years.

AFTER EVERY GAME the criticism of Matt O’Connor’s Leinster grows louder. After the loss at the Stoop they were dumped on and it was probably even worse after they laboured to a one-point win over Harlequins at the Aviva on Saturday night.

There has been a fierce debate recently about Leinster winning ugly and whether that is good enough for a team that played some of the greatest club rugby of the professional era during Joe Schmidt’s tenure as coach in the recent past.

Matt O’Connor didn’t endear himself to Leinster supporters when he recently said that results are what matter to him, but is the blue army judging the Australian by a slightly distorted view of the past?

Nobody is going to come off well when compared to Schmidt but with some of the hero worship that goes on around him, you would swear that his Leinster team secured a try bonus point every time they took the field (although it wasn’t from a lack of trying to be fair).

In fact, as Leinster manager Guy Easterby points out, Matt O’Connor’s first year in charge was better than Schmidt’s last, and in the current national coach’s final season, Leinster were every bit as poor in the European Cup as Leinster have been in this campaign – home and away losses to Clermont as well as two poor performances to start against Exeter and the Scarlets.

“The really interesting thing is that last year we had a better season than we had the year before – we got out of our group last year and the previous year we ended up in the Amlin and we won the Pro12 in both seasons,” Easterby said.

“They [the fans] are an educated bunch, they understand the game and they are loyal, which is always important. I thought the people there on the weekend were fantastic. Of course there is an expectation from outside but there is also an expectation in here.”

But while Leinster fans might be overly harsh on O’Connor at times, it doesn’t say much that the greatest defence you can muster for the Australian is, ‘Hey, Leinster are just as bad this season as they were in Schmidt’s worst year’.

There are plenty of legitimate gripes such as the regression of the attack to the extent that they rarely create try-scoring chances anymore, let alone score four in a game.

Devin Toner recognises that his side have not been at their best, and also that the fans not only expect wins, but also a certain brand of rugby to go with it.

Toner talked about the pressure on Leinster to live up to the expectations of the fans. Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“I don’t think we are performing to the best of our ability,” Toner said.

“We know the skill is there and we know we can do it. We still have a similar squad with similar players so I don’t think we have a lot to worry about because we know we can do it. The fans have been brilliant for us but I suppose they have got used to us winning and winning by a lot. It is kind of hard to live up to that but we will do our best in the next few games.”

Toner’s point of having a similar squad to the one that reached Europe’s top table in swashbuckling fashion is accurate – but having a similar squad isn’t having the same squad.

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Johnny Sexton, the premier playmaker in Europe, hasn’t been there to create and neither has Isa Nacewa. Brian O’Driscoll slowed down considerably in his final season and Gordon D’Arcy is coming towards the end of his career.

With all that being the case, is it fair to expect the exact same kind of rugby that Leinster delivered in winning back-to-back Heineken Cups?

Isaac Boss alluded to the changes when he spoke of all the ‘variables’ that he says make it pointless to compare the current Leinster team with years past.

Boss says he doesn't compare the different Leinster teams that he has been a part of. Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

“We don’t look back at that at all,” Boss said.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that you never compare teams. There are so many variables out there that it is ridiculous to try and compare. It is probably gathering a bit of legs but I don’t think it should be. We should focus on the now and not focus on the past.”

Of course, Leinster fans would argue that were Matt O’Connor to pick Ian Madigan at out-half, it would go a long way to recreating the dynamic environment in the backline that created a multitude of great opportunities each game.

But as Easterby says, this is a results business and until O’Connor’s selection results in a terminal loss, he is unlikely to make wholesale changes.

With three consecutive inter-pros over Christmas, the ugly approach probably won’t be enough to see Leinster climb the table.

“It’s a results business but people pay money and are very entitled to their opinion,” Easterby said.

“It is an interesting debate. I don’t think anyone is pretending that we are playing as well as we’d like to play but we are grinding out results and that is part of professional sports.”