LEINSTER BOSS LEO Cullen said Jack Conan and Garry Ringrose would travel to South Africa as part of the squad to take on the Bulls in the URC semi-finals this Saturday.
Ringrose has been sidelined for months with a troublesome shoulder injury and though Leinser said the Ireland centre would be available for last weekend’s quarter-final win over Ulster, he wasn’t involved.
Back row Conan also missed the Ulster game after being withdrawn from the win over Connacht two weekends ago, but he looks set for his return against the Bulls.
“Garry and Jack should be good to go,” said Cullen on Saturday evening.
“The plan is for them to travel.”
The Leinster boss confirmed that Hugo Keenan would not be returning to the fold with his province after playing for Ireland 7s in the Rugby Europe Championship in Croatia last weekend.
However, Cullen stopped short of ruling Keenan out of involvement in a possible URC final if Leinster reach it.
“No, not for the semi-final,” said Cullen when asked if Keenan would feature again.
“One game at a time. He won’t be playing in South Africa.”
The Leinster boss underlined that it had been a tough decision for Keenan to leave his province at this stage of the season and chase his Olympic dream with Ireland 7s.
“You have to understand for all our fans, the group as well, you want a top-end player like Hugo, he has been an unbelievable servant for Leinster and for Ireland, he is still a relatively young man,” said Cullen.
“He gets the opportunity to represent Ireland and to win an Olympic medal. If you look through his lens, it is a difficult choice for him to make. He felt bad, particularly off the back of losing the Champions Cup final. He doesn’t like leaving the group.
“But again there is an opportunity there and it’s one of those tough choices. Everyone has to support him in making a tough choice. They are two amazing opportunities really and you just want to support players because again you want to give them opportunities so in the future when we are playing a match like the Bulls, it won’t be in an Olympic cycle.
“You hope when he is up for contract next and has the opportunity to go somewhere else, he goes, ‘I want to stay here because of the loyalty and support that everyone has given me.’”
Leinster might not have Keenan but their squad still includes more than enough quality to go to Pretoria and win.
Despite being away from home, Leinster are the four-point favourites early this week, not that Cullen concerns himself with such framing.
“It’s just about embracing the challenge now, making sure we are imposing our game on the opposition,” said Cullen.
“We played the Bulls in Round 13 when they had a fully loaded group. We were coming off the back of the Six Nations and we had a mix of some guys coming back from the Six Nations, we had some guys who played the previous week against Zebre.
“We are hugely excited, you don’t want it to end really. You see Ross Molony scoring a try there, he is obviously going to be moving on to a different challenge [with Bath] at the end of this season. Michael Ala’alatoa [who is joining Clermont], you can just see the intent he has in all aspects of his game. That is just mentioning two players.
“For the group, it is about embracing the challenge. It will be hard but it’s brilliant and we want to get excited by it. It’s different but hugely exciting nonetheless.”
For all the bluster from Murphy, Wilkins was right in saying Murphy didn’t put his best hand forward against Bulls, and had this match in mind. Definitely a stronger Ulster line up. Some interesting choices for Connacht – Carty had a good first half last week, but faded out before being subbed last week. Think he still offers a lot, but probably Forde is the better bench option. Aki/POC midfield hasn’t been tried before, so I’m curious to see how that goes. Josh Murphy mostly played at lock two seasons ago, so probably makes sense for him to return there, albeit I do think back row is his more natural position. Still, should be a good match. Ulster will be desperate for a win at home, and have picked a really strong side, so they’ll be a very stern test. Match of the weekend
@JoeVlogs: match of the weekend? 82.5k people beg to differ!!!
@Kevin: As in this match could go either way, and the recent history of the tie is that usually the home side win it, but only just. Looking at the Leinster v Munster sides, despite Leo insisting on selecting two tens on the bench, it is still Leinster’s to lose. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still want to attend it if I was in Dublin – Croke Park, world cup winners, internationals, etc. But as a contest goes, I expect a tighter, more exciting game from the later match.
@Kevin: well in fairness this game should be close and competitive. The other game has a strong likelihood of Leinster running out big winners. Hopefully not and it’s competitive too
@JoeVlogs: that’s fair enough alright. The game should be a cracker too.
@JoeVlogs: yeah Josh is an absolutely savage 6
Thought Cordero was very poor at full back against the Scarlets! For me he looks like an out and out winger! I’m surprised Mack isn’t the one being tried there as his style would be more suited, we could do with more options there internationally too! Interested to see how Paul Boyle goes, at times he looks like the best ball carrier in Ireland. but has rarely been picked to start in the past 2 years right when he was banging on the Irish door!
@Attacki Acki: Agree, I’d nearly put O Connor on the wing and Hansen to full back with Forde in midfield. Send Cordero packing. Boyle was unfortunate with injuries, but on his day he’s probably strongest ball carrying backrow on the island.
@Ray Ridge: not even the best 8 on the pitch Saturday. Timoney will outplay him in every facet. As for the best 8 the future lions captain is that
Hard place to go, would never bet against Ulster at Ravenhill. Connacht have only won twice (not double checked that) in the last 10 years. Team looks decent tho, may be the best shot they’ve had in a while.
@Thesaltyurchin: Three times including the Rainbow Cup. Not just 10 years though. It’s about 75.
How Cordero continues to be selected is beyond me, considering he hasn’t completed a tackle in the opening 3 games of the season. Not even offering a whole lot in an attacking sense either to make up for it. Hopefully he will manage to catch the ball this weekend without dropping it and nail a few tackles. Not much between the sides otherwise, maybe home advantage will be the difference.
@Ray Ridge: I would genuinely love it if he had a stormer tomorrow for no reason other than for you to be shown up for the clown that you are.
@Patrick Kennedy: I’d love it too, but he’ll have to improve quite a bit on the evidence of the first 3 games.
@Ray Ridge: he missed a whole season through injury. give the lad a break.
@Niall English: Ah Stop, a professional Rugby player out for a few months is no excuse for not being able to catch the ball and make a simple tackle. He’s being back long enough now. I’m expecting a much improved performance from this guy otherwise……. See more
@Ray Ridge: A few months? He played one game last season after doing his ACL. Ignorance on show again, well done
@Patrick Kennedy: yes he was out for a few months, besides you don’t catch the ball with your ACL. He’s had a long pre-season and 3 URC games. Long enough to be able catch a ball and make a tackle. The time for excuses is over.
@Ray Ridge: So August to June is “a few months”? Last time I checked it was 11 months.
@Patrick Kennedy: End of August to middle of May is around 9 months.
@Ray Ridge: Did his ACL during preseason at the beginning of August, played his first game the end of May. But don’t let facts get in the way of your nonsense.
@Patrick Kennedy: The 22nd of August is not the beginning of August and the 18th of May is not the end of May. Besides that’s not the point. The point is he should still be able to catch the ball. I haven’t been on a bicycle for about 20 years but I can still bloody cycle.
Another mouth watering game to look forward to