Chilling 'work in progress' message sent out to Leinster's opponents by new coach
Former Munster player turned Leinster attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal believes the Blues are only getting going despite a perfect points start to the new URC season
Tyler Bleyendaal insists that Leinster are still a work in progress - despite their perfect 20 point start to the URC season.
Former Munster star Bleyendaal is still getting settled back into the province as the new attack coach after returning to New Zealand for the birth of his daughter, Sienna, adding to his young family back home that also includes his boys Bodhi (6) and Riley (4).
While happy that the Blues have four try bonus point wins back from their first four games, he doesn't shy away from the fact that issues remain as the coaching brains trust works hard to get in sync behind the scenes.
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Leinster blitzed Benetton and Munster in the first half of their last two games, yet only scored one try in the second half of both games combined. It didn't matter as both fixtures were done and dusted by half-time.
On that imbalance, Bleyendaal jokes that Leinster have been watching the All Blacks too much recently, then adds: "Yeah, it’s a nice problem to have, that you’re scoring tries fast and early. "I don’t think there’s one specific thing, to put the finger on. But we’d definitely like to be scoring more points.
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"It’s always a work in progress. And we’re working out as a coaching staff how to really integrate with each other’s expertise and areas of the game.
"From how we kick, to how we counter, to defence, to getting the ball back, all that kind of cycle, then the set-piece and whatnot. So definitely a work in progress.
"We need to have patience. It’s not going to be immediate. But the players have been great, they’ve a good attitude. They’re challenging themselves.
"It’s not exactly status quo, comfort zone stuff. It’s been enjoyable. They’re going very well, apart from a few results at the end of the season they’re competing at a very high level.
"It was more myself and Jacques (Nienaber) aligning about how does the defence complement the attack and the kicking game and everything in between, and then delivering that to the players and giving them enough guidance.
“We don’t want to be so strict and structured. These guys have got good skill sets, they’ve got good vision, they’ve got a connection and combination that they’ve developed themselves that you can’t coach. So, that’s a great starting point.
“But it takes time to get what I think I see and what to get out on the field, how to play - and then to see the same pictures. We don’t get to build combinations. Like, we’ve had a good run now for three weeks.”
As a former No.10, Bleyendaal gets why there will be frustration in the out-half ranks at Leinster. Ciarán Frawley has been the man in possession of the jersey the last two weeks, but with Ross Byrne, his brother Harry and Sam Prendergast - who could feature against Connacht in Galway on Friday after playing three times in a week for Emerging Ireland - all hungry for game time.
"Not knowing when that chance might come is maybe the frustrating thing, too," the Kiwi said. "So you've got to stay engaged, you've got to keep doing the right thing for the team, you've got to grow your game so that when the chance does come, you are ready, which is also difficult if you're not playing a string of games.
"Like I said, the combinations, the learning of how we're trying to play, if you're not getting to do that often, it can be challenging. So how do you find that? In the opposition team (in training) or as a finisher for us, you know?
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