THE SUMO ACRONYM is a regular full stop applied around Leinster HQ.
Monday begins with the review of the previous match. Win or lose, they nit-pick through their errors and figure out what they must improve on in the week ahead. The it’s ‘Shut Up and Move On’ to focusing on the next opponent standing in their wake.
So, having steered a team to the 100% winning record that Leinster still hold 12 matches into this season – a run that has featured all the disruption of losing swathes of players to the World Cup and bringing them back in while balancing the mood of the wider group – head coach Leo Cullen isn’t about to start complaining.
It is within Leinster’s grasp now to reach the turn of the season without a loss to their name. Munster and a sold-out Thomond Park are the last team that can deny them that feat, but Cullen isn’t bemoaning the fact that he may have to leave some of his international stars at home in cotton wool.
“It’s been planned out for such a long time now. We talked about this last summer, really,” says the head coach.
“There are limited resources in this country with regards playing resources. So it’s important we take care of the guys we have here and keep them in the country because they know they’ll be looked after here and not played into the ground. That’s not going to help anyone.
“It’s one of those realities that we all have to face up to and it gives us a great opportunity to see some of the young guys.
“We’ve worked hard to bring young guys through, so to have two ‘new Leinster players’ after today,” adds Cullen with a nod to Tommy O’Brien and Roman Salanoa who debuted in the 54-42 win over Ulster on Friday.
“When you’re missing a certain amount of players it just gives younger guys an opportunity and that’s important for the overall development of Irish rugby.”
That said, Cullen will still expect to see more of a finished product that mere progress from his side in Thomond Park. Last season’s winter inter-pro in Limerick was a feisty affair that left Leinster bruised and beaten on their trip back up the M7.
“Last year we went down to Thomond and we had a bit of a wobble in the first half when we don’t get a lot of things right,” Cullen said last Thursday.
“Even that game, we’re back in that as well,” Cullen added post-match at the RDS on Friday, “and we throw an intercept pass again. They’re such momentum swings in the game.
“For us, we just make sure that we’re nice and accurate in the game and not giving up anything cheaply.
Because if you start giving away things cheaply down in Thomond it can be a pretty tough day down there.
“It’s a good challenge for our guys. It’s great really. We didn’t acquit ourselves well down there last year, so hopefully, we can go a bit better. We’ll see.”
