{"id":459592,"date":"2026-05-21T05:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459592\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:57:21","slug":"were-going-to-have-to-put-in-a-big-defensive-effort-adam-coleman-relishing-leinster-test-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459592\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re going to have to put in a big defensive effort\u2019: Adam Coleman relishing Leinster test \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles<\/a> and Adam Coleman took a chance on one another in the summer of 2023. The Tasmanian-born secondrow was without a club after London Irish folded, while the French club were midtable in the Top 14. <\/p>\n

The timing was serendipitous but neither party would have envisaged at that precise moment just how harmonious and, ultimately, successful the hastily arranged marriage would prove. The 34-year-old wasn\u2019t cowed by the challenge, even as a non-French speaker.<\/p>\n

His career had taken him from the Force and the Rebels in Super Rugby to London Irish, and from Test match rugby with the Wallabies where he won 38 caps before transferring allegiance in 2023 to Tonga, who his father, Pau\u2019u Lolohea-Afeaki, had captained. <\/p>\n

\"\"How Leinster and Ulster warmed up for their European showdowns<\/p>\n

Rugby heritage is plentiful in the family, his cousins include Wallaby Rodney Blake, former Hurricane and Tonga captain Inoke Afeaki and All Black Ben Afeaki. Coleman is a key player in so many aspects of the game, his power and size being key attributes. <\/p>\n

He said at the time: \u201cWhen London Irish went down, I genuinely didn\u2019t know what was going to happen next for my career. But to come here, to meet the people and live in Bordeaux, it\u2019s an incredible place. You get this incredible lifestyle and the opportunity to play with so many great French internationals. They are all the benefits of playing overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s unpacked quite a lot in the interim, coming up short in a couple of French Top 14 campaigns but then winning a first ever Champions Cup<\/a> title last season. Looking fit and relaxed, the 6ft 9in, 19 stone secondrow offered an appraisal of Leinster<\/a>\u2019s qualities.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we\u2019ve done a pretty good preview of them. I think it\u2019s not a hidden fact that they\u2019ve got a very good set piece, and the defence, they contest the ruck quite hard. Pretty much every ruck\u2019s contested, so I think the ruck\u2019s a crucial area for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir defence is a rushed defence. They\u2019re all in and it shows; they\u2019ve got a very good defence system. As do we and we\u2019ve got a very good attack too, so I think it\u2019s going to be a good game of rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do Leinster present a similar shape or orientation in attack, defence or any other aspect of their game to a particular Top 14 club? Coleman sidesteps adroitly. \u201cI try not to compare the Top 14 with other competitions,\u201d he says with a smile. <\/p>\n

\"AdamAdam Coleman of Tonga gestures after the Rugby World Cup 2023 match against Scotland at Stade de Nice. Photograph: Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what\u2019s unique about the European Cup, is that you have to take each team for what they are. They play very structured rugby, but they do play what\u2019s in front of them also. They play to space a lot, so we\u2019re going to have to put in a big defensive effort on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman declined to single out individual Leinster players, seeking refuge in \u201call internationals\u201d, \u201cgood team\u201d, \u201cthe backrow is elite\u201d, and only breaking cover when mentioning Rieko Ioane<\/a>, as he points out \u201che\u2019s been playing very good footy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bordeaux\u2019s attack coach Noel McNamara will have an intimate knowledge of the Leinster way as a former academy and A coach at the province. He is also an Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam winning coach, where Harry Byrne, Thomas Clarkson and Scott Penny were mainstays. Joe McCarthy played for him the following year.<\/p>\n

Coleman offered a synopsis of McNamara\u2019s impact. \u201cI think it\u2019s proven in results, how we\u2019ve been attacking, [in] how Noel\u2019s influenced the team with the attack structures that we have. He lets the boys play, but within a structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe leads the attack very well. He\u2019s a great coach, a great person to be around and have around the club. Obviously, him being from Ireland, he kind of has an idea of how they\u2019ll play, but the focus this week has been on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bordeaux-BèglesBordeaux-B\u00e8gles coach Noel McNamara at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Photograph: James Crombie\/\u00a9INPHO <\/p>\n

Leinster and Bordeaux have both experienced heartache in trying to chase down trophies, the Irish province have lost four European finals since their last triumph in 2018, while the French club endured their own setbacks domestically.<\/p>\n

Coleman accepted that pain can be a good teacher. \u201cYou work so hard to get to a final and you lose. You\u2019ve definitely got that chip on the shoulder the next time. We felt that 2023 [\u201923-\u201924 season] in the Top 14, 2024 [\u201924-\u201925 season] in the Top 14, and then we finally got a European Championship last year. Rugby is an emotional roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gordon D\u2019Arcy: Leinster\u2019s chances of Champions Cup success lie largely with two playersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He laughed when asked if there was any point where he could relax in last year\u2019s final victory over the Northampton Saints. \u201cI don\u2019t think there was any moment in that match I could breathe easy until that last whistle went. You can\u2019t think like that in a game. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where it can catch you out. Teams can score three tries in 10 minutes these days. It\u2019s really important that we have to stay on top of our game for the whole 80 minutes and if it goes beyond that, we take it as it comes. <\/p>\n

\u201cSmall moments matter in this game, as does every game, but it could come down to a penalty. We want to make sure that we\u2019re disciplined enough that it falls our way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles and Adam Coleman took a chance on one another in the summer of 2023. The Tasmanian-born secondrow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[121813,32728,61,60,11287,112],"class_list":["post-459592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bordeaux-begles","tag-champions-cup","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}