DESPITE THE ISSUES he has had in recent games, Robin McBryde insists that Leinster are pleased with the way that Ireland international Andrew Porter is currently scrummaging as part of the eastern province’s front-row.

A current mainstay for both Leinster and Ireland at loosehead prop having previously found himself in direct competition with Tadhg Furlong in the tighthead position, the 27-year-old Dubliner has been on the wrong side of refereeing decisions across a host of encounters in the latter stages of 2023.

This includes their gruelling 9-3 victory over Munster at Thomond Park on St Stephen’s Day, when Porter was penalised by Andrew Brace on a number of occasions.

While McBryde feels it is important to establish a direct line of communication with match officials in order to get a sense of how they are going to referee scrums over the course of 80 minutes in a competitive fixture, the Welsh native also believes that Porter has made great strides in this area and was unfortunate to see some calls going against him in the Munster game.

“We have regular conversations. Leo [Cullen] spoke with Andrew Brace following the game at the weekend. It’s a tough one, there are two sides to every story. We are really happy with the way that Andrew is scrummaging. We just need to see things from the referee’s point of view, maybe,” McBryde remarked from a Leinster media briefing.

“I think Andrew has made great strides. I think he has fallen foul of a couple of decisions that have gone against him, but I mean he is a top end scrummager. I thought we scrummaged pretty well on the weekend against Munster. I thought we could have got a bit more out of the decisions from the referee.

“It’s getting those comms a little bit better, so we are seeing the same pictures as what the referees are seeing as well. It’s tough, sometimes decisions will go against you, and you have to live with them. I think in the main Andrew’s turned a corner with his scrummaging and he is painting good pictures in the main.”

Following 12 years as part of the Welsh international coaching set-up under Warren Gatland, McBryde took over from John Fogarty as Leinster’s scrum specialist in 2019. Although he only joined the Leinster backroom ranks in advance of the 2022/23 season, Andrew Goodman will be moving in an opposite direction next year as a replacement for Mike Catt as Ireland attack coach – following the completion of their summer tour in South Africa.

Whilst acknowledging that Goodman – who also worked with Samoa at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France – will be a major loss for Leinster, McBryde is convinced that the New Zealander has all the necessary tools to be a long-term success in the international Test arena.

“He’ll be a big loss to us here. He’s bedded himself in very well, has a lot of knowledge and experience. He only recently returned from that World Cup experience with Samoa and everyone has enjoyed working with Andrew and everyone has seen the qualities that Ireland are obviously going to benefit from,” McBryde said of Goodman.

“Having been at Leinster as a player himself, sometimes it can be harder to build those relationships back up now that those dynamics have changed, but I think he did that brilliantly and he’s been great to work alongside. I’ve learned a lot just working alongside Goody and there’s quite a bit of the season left.

“Hopefully we can get a bit of success along the way before he leaves. It’s a shame really. We went so close last year, but it’s a great acquisition from an Ireland perspective.

“You can’t turn an opportunity like that down, really, to coach at international level with one of the best teams in world rugby. I wish him all the best and hopefully we can squeeze a bit more out of him this season before it’s all over.”

Daire Walsh