Nathan Johns

That can't be a good place to be if that nervous energy is flying about the place.

Oh, they've definitely gone with the siege mentality.

Interesting.

I mean, my take on it was, you look at what Leo Collins said about everyone putting the boot in them after the too long game.

There's been a few players coming out and saying, yeah, we know people like to write us off quickly.

I always remember, and it was last year, so maybe not as relevant, but I always remember the Joe McCarthy TV interview where he literally said, we know everyone hates us.

And presumably the main reason why you would kind of get players believing that is because, again, it frees them up.

It means, well, look,

everybody's writing you off.

Nobody says you have a chance.

Just go out there and express yourselves because you've got nothing to lose almost.

So what strikes me most about this Leinster group is how difficult they are to define.

You can articulate clearly what Bordeaux do well, what Toulouse or Ulster bring, what La Rochelle or Saracens are built on.

Leinster this season have been harder to read, which is fascinating because the previous year or two, you know, early Nienaber era, because this is his third year now, it's very clear what Leinster were up to.

very clear.

They were working very hard on their defense.

Players came out.

A lot of guys who had left the squad then came out and said, listen, we barely worked on the attack for a year.

We're getting off the line and we're turning breakdowns into, and this is their phrase now, a shit fight.

That was kind of their communication style.