JEWELS IN THE CROWN
Holders will put their stars into action as Wasps come to town
WALKING through the upscale Dublin 4 hotel where Leinster hold their pregame press conferences, it is interesting to notice the gleaming cabinets of luxury jewellery, marked Cullen & Co, that line the halls.
At the end of that hallway yesterday, Leo Cullen sat alongside Rob Kearney, just one of the jewels in a Leinster crown that is the cause of much envy throughout the European game. Kearney lines up at full-back tonight in a Leinster team that contains 14 internationals (the exception being the in-form James Lowe), with 493 caps between them. There is another 171 caps of experience available to Cullen on the bench.
It is a starting 15 that very much re-emphasises the fact that the defending champions are once again the leading contender to lift the trophy in Newcastle next May.
When Wasps last visited the RDS in 2015, they inflicted a record defeat on Leinster on the occasion of Cullen’s first European game as head coach. Three years down the line, the Blues sit in rarefied air, and anything other than a Leinster win in this Heineken Champions Cup opener is almost unimaginable.
Leinster are the team to beat, and you get the sense that the province are lapping that up.
‘I’m not sure there was any target on our backs the last couple of seasons so it’s good to be back in that situation where teams are looking at us a bit more,’ admitted Cullen.
‘For us, we need to understand what makes us a good team and what makes us struggle in games at certain times. We’re far from the finished product. There’s things we can get better at.
‘It’s a different step-up for us this weekend against a team we struggled against a few years ago. It’s going to be a great challenge to see how far we’ve progressed.’
While there is no questioning how much Leinster have kicked on in that period, Wasps are also not quite the same team they once were. Factor in the absence of Nathan Hughes (suspended), Jimmy Gopperth (knee), captain Joe Launchbury (knee), Christian Wade (illness) and Dan Rob-son (ankle), and Wasps’ task tonight looks increasingly challenging.
Dai Young’s men have leaked 167 points in their opening six Premiership games this season. Against one of the most exciting and attacking Leinster sides in recent memory, such sloppiness will be ruthlessly punished. The most interesting inclusion in the visitors’ starting team is that of fullback Willie Le Roux.
The experienced Springbok was forced off in the 66th minute of South Africa’s 32-30 defeat to New Zealand in Pretoria last Saturday, with Rassie Erasmus later stating the player had suffered a concussion. While the 29-year-old was expected to miss tonight’s game as a result, Wasps have stated that Le Roux passed his second concussion test and has been given the green light to play just six days after the incident.
Wasps, who sit third in the Premiership table and lost 35-21 at home to Gloucester last weekend, also welcome back big money signing Lima Sopoaga, who has recovered from a neck problem to start at out-half.
‘I saw a lot of him (Sopoaga) when he was with the Highlanders,’ said Cullen.
‘For us, it’s about trying to put him under as much pressure as possible. The type of rugby in Europe is slightly different to Super Rugby, slightly different to the Premiership. So for us it’s trying to use certain opportunities in the game to put him under pressure that he’s not used to and make life difficult for him so that he’s not dictating the game on his terms. He’s a quality player, he obviously has tonnes of experience and he’s a huge signing.’
Cullen has plenty of talent at his own disposal, so the main challenge this season is making sure the squad is still hungry for success after winning both the Champions Cup and Pro14 last season.
‘The group has changed. The dynamic of the group is different,’ he continued.
‘At the end of every year you lose a few players and a couple of guys come in or push through. Every-one is a year older. Some are wiser, others maybe not so. So the dynamic starts all over again.
‘You start all over, again, from scratch. We try to build our way into the season. We always have the challenge of trying to manage guys in at different stages. We’ve come through that and we have a nice competitive bunch of players here who want to push on and do well.
‘They know what is at stake off the back of these games with selections in November (for Ireland) and all the different bits that go on after that. ‘The group are in good form but guys know that they have to play because if they don’t play well then chances are that someone else will come in and take their spot.’ And that, for any head coach, is a very healthy problem to have.