IT ALL LIKELIHOOD, Leinster’s Champions Cup defeat of Ulster at Aviva Stadium on Saturday should serve as the perfect preparation for Friday’s quarter-final meeting with Leicester Tigers at the same venue.
On a wet and dirty night in Dublin, Leinster took control after an error-strewn opening 20 minutes at Lansdowne Road, their forwards dominating the physical battle as they powered to a 30-15 win.
With the province expecting a similarity gritty contest against the Tigers later this week, Leinster number eight Jack Conan felt it was a timely reminder that while Leo Cullen’s side tend to be lauded for their electric attacking play, they can still roll up their sleeves when the occasion demands it.
And while nobody is looking too far down the line just yet, with Toulouse potentially waiting in the semi-finals, and old foes Saracens and La Rochelle on the other side of the draw, Leinster’s power game will face fierce examination if they are to go all the way in Europe this year.
“It just shows that we can win playing different styles of rugby,” said Conan, who picked up the official player of the match award for his efforts.
It wasn’t the day for the standard Leinster attacking brand of rugby, we had to keep it a bit tighter and we showed the strength of our scrum and maul today at times.
“We were a little bit disappointed we left a little bit out there at times, especially early on on the try-line – myself included – so there’s things to improve on, get better at.
“But, again, it’s a good way to win a match, playing pressure rugby like that.
“Happy enough (with my own performance), I don’t know who was picking man of the match today but it was good to get it – my mother must be ringing in.
“It’s good to be back with the lads, to win with that style of rugby today. The back-row was good, Ryan (Baird) was fantastic with his try and the turnover as well.
“We’re happy with where we are. But we need to get better again.”
Conan was one of 13 Grand Slam winners returning to the Leinster starting XV, and the 30-year-old says Ireland’s Six Nations success has only increased the desire to land more silverware with Leinster this season.
“Yeah, it was exciting to come back in after making history with Ireland. We came back in for two days last week and it was good to flick the switch, get back into Leinster mode and refresh ourselves with the calls and the style of play.
“It was a great few weeks with Ireland, but we have an opportunity to win something really special in a couple of weeks time.”
On a night which largely ran smoothly for Leinster, one small concern was the sight of Josh van der Flier limping off with an ankle injury during the second half. The province will issue an update on the flanker later today, but should be able to welcome back Caelan Doris and Garry Ringrose for Friday’s showdown with Leicester.
The two sides also met in last year’s quarter-finals – Leinster winning 23-14 at Welford Road – and it’s a game which sees Leinster boss Cullen come up against a club he spent two seasons with during his own playing career.
“They’re a club that are based on sound fundamentals, aren’t they, so they go about their work and go about things a certain way, they respect the competitions that they’re in and yeah, you can see the support base that they have week on week on week,” Cullen said.
“I had an amazing time there, I learned so much in the couple of years that I was there. Great people, I have to say.
“And yeah, they’ll come here and with that strong tradition they’ll fancy their chances here, they won’t be intimidated by coming here.
They’ll have strong attention to detail around the fundamentals of the game, it will be a similar type of game to what we faced today, which is strong set piece, good kicking game, aerial threat, aggressive around the ruck, strong carries, strong contacts.
“So we need to make sure we prepare well for that this week.
“It’s a good, competitive group. There was a lot of tough, competitive calls this week and there’s a good chunk of guys who were involved in that England game and then a totally different 23 that plays against the Stormers they acquitted themselves well.
“The lads are disappointed they’re not involved, but they’re pushing in the right direction and preparing them during the week. That’s what we need, lads being ready to step in when required and just enjoy the time together.
“They’re a great bunch of players who work hard, are very diligent in what they do so that’s what we need, I just hope they enjoy the process because it’s literally on to the next thing so you’ve got to enjoy what you do, day to day.
“Big week again, we’ll see where we stand at the end of it.”
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