IF YOU WERE to listen to every rugby podcast, hear the words of every pundit and read every newspaper preview, you wouldn’t bother tuning in tonight. The result has already been declared.
Leinster, having outplayed Munster in their backyard last week, now travel to Connacht’s. It is the first-leg of the round of 16 Champions Cup tie. To say Leinster are favourites is like a bookmaker in biblical times suggesting he fancied Goliath to beat the little chap with a sling in his hand.
For Leo Cullen, coach of the modern-day Goliath, motivation is easy and it stems from the fact his team have been waiting four years to add a fifth star to their jersey, falling shy to Saracens (twice) and La Rochelle in the years since.
“There’s the emotional attachment to the tournament that we hope our lads have,” Cullen said.
“It’s strong. We were disappointed with how the tournament ended last year.
“Sometimes you need to just cast your mind back to that place which helps build some of that emotional connection to the tournament. We’re into knockout rugby and over the years it comes down to the finest of margins — a scrum penalty, a missed ruck, a maul, a ball dropped over the line — moments that stick in my mind forever more where we’ve got the victory.
“Like that Wesley Fofana knock on over the tryline against Clermont in the semi-final.
“It’s making sure we get all those bits right in these knockout games because you never know what might come back to haunt you.
“These things stay in your mind for a long, long time.”
The memories of their last trip to Galway are fresh in their mind given how it only happened a couple of weeks ago. An early red card changed the tone of that match. Connacht rallied for 50 minutes but eventually ran out of steam. Still, the dress rehearsal taught Cullen something.
“It was pretty frenetic at the start of the game a couple of weeks ago so I think it will be something similar. It’s just who can keep control of the game. That will be the big thing, making sure that we’re nice and calm and collected under the pressure that Connacht will bring to the game. We’ve a lot of pretty experienced guys in the group.
“We’ll see what the conditions look like on the day because traditionally that plays such a massive part in a game down there, but I believe the forecast is not too bad tomorrow.”
