IT’S OUR WINTER OF INTENT

As the wind and rain rolls in Cullen says his Blues have the game for all seasons

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.

JOHANN VAN GRAAN believes victory in Castres can be as easy as one, two, three - but if Munster get their numbers jumbled then the result won’t be the one they want.The province head to the home of the PRO14 champs on the back of last week’s 30-5 Thomond Park win.But a scrappy first half meant just four points were collected as a valuable bonus fifth went by the wayside.The return of Joey Carbery after his late withdrawal last week sees him pair up with Conor Murray for the first time for the Reds the Ireland out-half for JJ Hanrahan, the Reds’ hero six days ago, is the one change in the side.But Munster expect a different game onFrench soil.Castres’ anaemic performances on the road are generally not repeated when they’re at Stade Pierre-fabre and last year Munster were fortunate to escape there with a draw when the sides met in the first pool game.This time around it’s TEAMING UP Joey Carbery & Conor Murray in training this week the fourth of six and, with Munster holding down the top spot, they’ll want to push home that advantage.How they go about that after a six-day turnaround will be down to three main things, head coach van Graan (left) said.“We’re just going to focus on small little things on both sides of the ball,” he admitted. “You can’t make too many changes in a short week.“For us it’s about one, fine-tuning, two, getting our bodies right for another battle, and then three, being fresh in the mind - because we’re going to need that to get a good performance in the heart of France, in the French champions’ back yard.“We’ve got to do everything in our power to get those three things right.”A little disappointed that Munster could not secure a fourth try last week, the South African added: “We left some opportunities out there but you get what you deserve.”EXETER Chiefs beat Gloucester 29-17 at Kingsholm in Pool Two last night.