Baird soars to new heights adding lineout calling to his skills

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

What was going through Baird’s mind is unknown, but it would have been a little disconcerting to have the first lineout go astray, especially as he shortened it to a four-man and called it on himself at the front. It was a timing play, but Dillane beat his opponent to the ball

Leo Cullen had made two changes to the starting pack from the win over the Leicester Tigers, Jason Jenkins and Will Connors promoted. A knock-on effect was that Baird took over the lineout calling duties from Ross Molony.

It is a remit which the 24-year-old Baird has embraced with the zeal required to consume a lot of video analysis. Leinster captain Caelan Doris explained: “I think he’s got a very good attitude, a great mindset and works very hard and puts a ton of time into lineout attack and defence in particular.

“The analysis he does and the plan he puts in place along with the other secondrows has been great. He’s developed in that area a lot over the last probably five or six months.”

No different from a place-kicker or a hooker, mental resilience is paramount to being able to be next task focused when calling the lineout. Arguably an equally pivotal moment arrived just shy of three minutes, Leinster’s second lineout. Baird called it on Jenkins at two, a sensible ploy that worked.

A word here for Jenkins, who produced one of his best performances in the jersey and thoroughly vindicated his selection. He won five lineouts and had the second highest tackle count (10) on the team in his 50 minutes, even more laudable considering that Doris with 13 played an additional 20 minutes to the South African. It wasn’t just the volume but the aggression and the quality of his clearing out.

Five minutes in and Baird won Leinster’s third lineout and when La Rochelle get their first of the game on 10 minutes, Leinster’s blindside flanker was a fingernail width from pickpocketing Judicaël Cancoriet to the ball having correctly identified the target of the throw. Baird leads his team in lineout steals in the tournament (five).

Doris was twice penalised at restarts, the first for sealing off, the second for not releasing in the tackle. La Rochelle, having experienced joy in that regard...