British and Irish Lions forward Tadhg Beirne laid bare his frustrations last Saturday about the current style of rugby favouring power teams, a development that ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster warned World Rugby referees about four years ago.
Trying to make sense of Munster’s dull 13-8 weekend United Rugby Championship loss to Leinster, Ireland lock Beirne insisted: “The style of the game is gone. Let’s be honest, the style of the game has gone backwards if we are being serious.
“Teams are just kicking the ball. Why? Because it’s a 50/50 chance of getting the ball back. Certain teams are going to set-piece more because you put up the 50/50 in the air, and you get a knock-on, you get a scrum. And if you have a good scrum, you can get a penalty, into the corner.
“It’s just becoming a set-piece and kicking game with the way they have kind of changed the rules. You see teams kick more and more, and it’s just going to continue going that way unless they decide to do something about it.”
“If you’re not careful…”
It turns out that this complaint about power teams kicking more as they know they have the more dominant set-piece if knock-ons materialise was something alluded to in 2021 when Lancaster, who was Leinster senior coach at the time, made a presentation to World Rugby referees about where he feared the game was going and that power teams would take over.
What had sparked Lancaster’s concern was the way Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle outmuscled Leinster in that year’s Champions Cup semi-final. It was an ordeal that Leinster experienced twice more – in the finals of 2022 and 2023 – before they opted to start playing a more power-based style themselves.
Now boss at Connacht after spending a year and a half in France with Racing 92, the revelation that Lancaster spoke to World Rugby about his fears for the game is contained in Touching Distance, the Gill Books publication that forensically details Irish rugby’s battle with great expectations.
Lancaster was one of more than 100 people interviewed by author Brendan Fanning in the highly acclaimed book that came on the market in Ireland ahead of Christmas 2025.
Given what Beirne derogatorily had to say over the weekend about the state of the game after a sold-out derby played in front of a crowd of 26,000 in Limerick left much to be desired, what Lancaster revealed in his book interview was insightful as he had predicted years ago what would happen – and he told the game’s leading referees as much!
“During my time at Leinster, we based our game on a game of movement,” he explained in the book. “So we wanted to play high ball-in-play. We wanted to play to space, and generally kill teams with attacking intensity, and obviously defensive intensity as well.
“In that presentation to World Rugby, I made the point that if you’re not careful you’re going to develop a game where only the power teams can win.
“That is what has happened in the last year or two. You look at the seven-one split (between forwards and backs on the bench). You look at how France dismantled Ireland in the Six Nations (2025). You look at South Africa, their power.
“So I do think that’s a factor as well in the evolution of the world game. It’s now leaning towards the power-based teams. Leinster’s signing of Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett et cetera, has given them an extra level of physicality and power that perhaps other players didn’t have.”
With Jacques Nienaber now at Leinster as their senior coach under Leo Cullen, there has been a shift away from the game of movement style they played under Lancaster.
It delivered them a URC title last June when they overpowered the Bulls in Dublin, securing their first league trophy since 2021.
However, a first success in the Champions Cup since 2018 has so far eluded them as they lost the 2024 final to Toulouse and were knocked out in the 2025 semi-finals by Northampton.
Lancaster’s desire to play rugby in the game of movement way that Leinster used to when he was working there has emerged at Connacht this season, and this week’s confirmation of the signing of Ciaran Frawley on a two-year deal from the Dublin-based club is evidence that he aims to continue in that high-tempo way.
“Ciaran’s arrival next season is a real statement of intent by the club,” said the coach after Frawley’s signing was confirmed. “I know him well from my time in Leinster, and I saw him grow from an academy prospect into a key member of the senior squad and play for Ireland also.
“He’s still only 28, so I firmly believe his best days are still ahead of him, and I’m delighted that the club have been able to secure a player of his calibre. He will be a big asset in the years ahead and, personally, I am really excited about working with him again.”
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