LEO CULLEN HAS played down the loss of Andrew Porter as he turns to former AIL stalwart Jerry Cahir to bolster his front row against the Bulls’ world-class scrum for the URC Grand Final at Croke Park on Friday night.

Tadhg Furlong makes a timely return after he was a late withdrawal from the side that beat the Stormers in the semi-finals, while Dan Sheehan has been passed fit to be named on the bench, with Rónan Kelleher continuing at hooker.

The experienced Ireland duo will pack down alongside Cahir in what is a repeat of last year’s final at the same venue, when Leinster ran out comfortable winners.

Ticket sales are running close to 35,000 and organisers are hopeful of reaching the 40,000 mark for the game by kick-off on Friday.

“I think it’s an amazing competition and it’s a privilege to be here at this stage of the competition and the final,” said Cullen, sitting in the media press conference room in the basement of GAA HQ.

Squad effort 

“If you’d asked me when we were sitting here last, after round four, when we had lost three of our first four games, would we be in the situation we’re playing in a final in Croke Park?

“I think everyone would have thought we were a little crazy at that point (to say we would) because we’d already lost more games in the regular season than we had during the entire regular season last season.

“We had 20-odd players heading off to international camp, so they weren’t going to be playing in the next couple of games. It’s been an amazing squad effort to get to this stage.”

Porter’s absence due to a calf issue was confirmed earlier in the week and it is the 25-year-old, who is playing his last game for Leinster before his summer move to Connacht, who has got the nod to start in his place.

“Andrew has missed a big chunk of the season already so, listen, guys have plenty of exposure throughout the season,” said head coach Cullen. “He’s a top player, Andrew, but we would always have huge faith in the group that we have.

“The group dynamic is pretty unusual because we lose the international players for a huge chunk of the regular URC games anyway so everybody gets plenty of time during the course of the season anyway.

“We used a lot of players, I don’t know if it’s more than other teams but guys get lots of exposure and you’ve got to be ready at any moment so it’s one guy down, next guy up, I don’t try to get too bogged down by that.”

Post-Munster at Croker in October was the moment when Cahir made his impressive entrance. He made his debut for the province in round five of the URC after lining out for several clubs across the AIL in recent years.

While he came off the bench in Champions Cup quarter-final and semi-final victories, he hasn’t featured since he started the last regular URC game of the season against Ospreys a month ago.

“I can’t imagine, at this time last year, you would have thought he’d be starting against potentially the best club in the world in the URC final,” said Cullen.

“Let’s face it, even if you think back to after round four, our very next game was round five and Jerry’s playing against Zebre, but to see his progression through the season has been amazing.

“It’s a great story of persistence and perseverance, because he was in the system and now he’s sort of not falling out of the system because he’s back playing with the club, battling it out at AIL with a few different teams, Belvedere, Trinity and Lansdowne. So, he’s moving around to try and progress himself all the time.

“To see him progress with us through the course of the season, he’s had some huge moments for us, some huge games. It brings me back to round five, Zebre, where we had six debutants that day, which is a bizarre number, isn’t it…mid-season, in a round five game to have six debutants.

“Gerry and Alex Usanov, to see the rise of both those guys over the course of the season; well, it’s a testament to those guys, first and foremost.

“I don’t think anyone thinks they’re going to let the team down on Friday because they’re bloody great characters.”

The third change to the line-up from the win over the Stormers sees Leinster’s player of the year Tommy O’Brien return on the wing. Skipper Caelan Doris is also included after he injured his knee in the last game.

Nienaber and Cullen today at Croke Park. Grace Halton / INPHO Grace Halton / INPHO / INPHO

Speaking after Leinster held their Captain’s Run a day early, Cullen was asked by South African media about the impact of his senior coach, Jacques Nienaber.

As he did recently, Cullen described his colleague as a “defensive genius”, before stressing that Nienaber’s system is “very much geared up for big days like this.”

And the head coach added: “Hopefully, you’ll see it with the players in terms of how aggressive we can be from a defensive point of view.

“We’re really attacking the Bulls when we don’t have possession. I think that will be interesting to observe how the Bulls go about playing against Jacques’ defensive system.

“They will have a good understanding with (Handré) Pollard and (Willie) Le Roux that will know him very well. It’s a fascinating dynamic in how that plays out.

“Ultimately, Jacques has been immense for us as a group and the players love working with him.”