AS LEO CULLEN is quick to stress, there are a lot of moving parts to Leinster’s season as they continue to work towards a potential double.
This week it’s back to United Rugby Championship duty, an experimental 31-man selection touching down in Durban yesterday ahead of two fixtures in the Rainbow Nation, with the Cell C Sharks up first on Saturday before a date with the DHL Stormers in Cape Town.
Yet one eye is already on the weekend of May 6-8th and a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final clash with Leicester Tigers. With that fixture in mind, Cullen has left most of his frontline internationals at home. Some of the group who are out in South Africa may even return to Ireland before the Stormers game, as Leinster look to manage their resources accordingly across a busy stretch of fixtures.
“The planning is always there in the background anyway, so that’s just the nature of the season that we have,” Cullen explains.
“We always, as coaches, have an eye on what’s coming down the line, whether that’s next week or beyond.
“You deal with the different permutations all the time. You can’t look too far (ahead) because you’ve got to get through the game, particularly when it gets to knockout games.
“The Connacht couple of weeks there, because we played Connacht three weeks in four and their team didn’t change that much – even from a URC team into the two Champions Cup games – there’s only three or four changes really, so the fact that those weeks, playing the same team, at least you can start turning your attention to some of the ‘what-if’ scenarios.
So we would have had a bit of a look at Leicester, even Clermont we would have had a look at just in case as well. And you’ve an eye to the South African teams, who we know (we are playing), so we’re always in that sort of mode anyway.
“A fair bit of work has gone into Sharks before we arrived here with some of the guys that say wouldn’t have been in the matchday 23 last week. Some that were in the 23 would have been solely focused on Connacht, but others had a head start, so to speak.
“You’re just trying to use your time and resources and all the rest. But it’s a great challenge.”
That challenge involves integrating some of the less familiar faces across the wider Leinster squad into a team that has won 12 from 15 in the URC and sit 10 points clear at the top of the table. Winning and losing won’t change much for Leinster at this stage of the season, but they will still be determined to put it up to two South African sides who are fighting for every point as the race for seedings in the playoff chase heats up.
The Sharks sit sixth on 46 points, with the Stormers one point clear on 47 in fifth, level with Munster.
Having turned on the style in breezing past Connacht last Friday, Leinster want to keep some sort of momentum going as that Leicester game comes into focus.
At the moment, Cullen’s squad looks in good shape. Andrew Porter and Ronan Kelleher have made the trip to South Africa as they look to get their match fitness up, while James Ryan has made a welcome return to full training back at the province’s UCD base, the Ireland lock available for selection again following his concussion issues.
“The last couple of weeks together have been good,” Cullen continues.
“There are still plenty of parts of our game that we can improve. When you think of Munster away there was some good bits in it for sure but I thought both teams looked a bit disjointed that day.
“Connacht away, we didn’t play particularly well. Connacht, I thought huge credit to them. I thought we played in patches, better at the Aviva at the weekend, so now it’s about improving on the performance at the weekend.
“Some guys have stayed back and the approach for them will be looking at (Champions Cup) quarter-final material and the relevant plans we have put in place for that game.
There is maintenance work as well in terms of fixing up some of the bodies after a long season. A couple of guys are coming off the Six Nations, just your usual niggles and knocks, but nothing significant. It is what it is. The trip over here is never easy in terms of when it is and who you play and all the rest of it but we make the most of it for what it is. It is a brilliant opportunity for the guys that are here.
“It won’t be easy, because there is a lot of quality and World Cup winners in this team that we’re going to be playing against, players that played against the (British and Irish) Lions and won that series as well, so it’s an incredible challenge really, when you think about it.”
The rumour mill suggests Leinster could also be back in South Africa in a few months time should they make the final, with the country touted as the potential host nation for the league decider.
“I think the short term (option) in my opinion would be the team that finishes top has got (home) advantage, similar to the way it was in Super Rugby,” Cullen says. “Because it’s going to be hard because say you set a final, let’s say in Cardiff, and you have the Sharks and Stormers playing in the final.
“For the South African public, I think it’s fairer that they get to support their two teams if they are the ones to make the final. That would be my view based on the higher seeding of those two teams.
“So until you have got the tournament really established from a supporter points of view, the distance is a problem, the travel on a week. I think of some of the finals that we’ve had up to Glasgow (2019)… Glasgow happened to make the final so it was a big thing, huge crowd in Celtic Park that day. And we’d a final in the Aviva where we made the final and played against Cardiff (2018) , there was a big crowd as well.
“It’s a tricky one. Probably for the final piece you should have to earn the right. That would be my opinion.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
