IT’S OUR WINTER OF INTENT
Pool Two, Stade Pierre-fabre 5.30
LEO CULLEN is backing his Leinster champions to show they can adapt their game when they need to as the winter weather rolls in.
The Blues had to dig out a hardearned victory in last Saturday’s Pool One clash against Bath at The Rec and face the same opponents at the Aviva Stadium this evening.
Similar enough conditions are expected too with a yellow weather warning issued.
And that will probably mean a Blues side without the injured Rob Kearney will have to dog it out.
“A lot of rain is due,” said head coach Cullen after yesterday’s Captain’s Run, “but this surface is very different to the Rec, it looks fantastic out there so credit to all the ground staff here.
“Will that have an effect? Yeah, slightly. So we’ll wait and see what it’s like.
“It was a little bit greasy out there for the guys running around so they’ll get a little bit of a sense of it. But it’s not due to be as windy.”
Tadhg Furlong and Josh van der Flier sat out the Captain’s Run but
Cullen insists they will start in a side that has three changes to last weekend.
Jack Conan is restored to No.8 as
Leinster look to address their back row issues.
Rhys Ruddock drops to the bench with the two other changes in the backline. Jordan Larmour comes in for Kearney which means a European return for Adam Byrne on the wing in place of Larmour.
In the centre fit-again Rory O’loughlin takes the place of Noel Reid.
Johnny Sexton is declared fit to start after he suffering a calf problem late in the last game.
“He’s good,” said Cullen of the new World Player of the Year. “He trained the last few days so he’s excited to get going again. But it’s good to change things up slightly.”
Cullen believes Leinster will be able to tweak their game whatever the conditions, something they might not have had in their arsenal a couple of years ago.
“We hope so,” he said. “We’re trying to add different strings to our game. We need to understand that sometimes you need to roll your sleeves up and do what needs to be done. We go out to play with attacking intent all the time but even in the game before Christmas against Exeter last year, it was both teams going fully at it. It was an unbelievably physical affair.
“That’s what people want to come and see as well. There wasn’t that many tries – we scored one and Exeter scored two – but it was a pretty enthralling game.
“It was a great advert. We expect the same from Bath. We know that they’re under a different type of pressure and we saw how that manifested itself in last week’s performance. We expect something very, very similar”.
Meanwhile, Todd Blackadder has warned his Bath side they must raise their game if they are to stay in the Champions Cup.
The West Country outfit are winless in the competition and can kiss their hopes goodbye if they lose today. Director of rugby Blackadder admitted: “I expect them to be better this time. They will probably say they were rusty. I think they will come a lot harder at the breakdown.”
Bath’s hopes have been further hit by a grade two medial knee ligament tear suffered by England wing Joe Cokanasiga in the 17-10 defeat last week. Cooper Vuna (left) fills in.
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