Leinsterreadytorecalltheirbig guns to lock horns with the Bulls

Cullen braced for top-of-the-table clash ahead of Champions Cup return

In terms of preparation for next weekend’s Champions Cup round-of-16 clash with a hard-nosed Leicester Tigers team, Leinster could hardly have wished for better opponents than the Bulls.

Such is the importance of Friday night’s top-of-the-table URC game against the South Africans, who sit in second place just four points off Leinster, Leo Cullen was glad to see his Ireland internationals back on deck at yesterday’s training session in Donnybrook.

Sure, not all of them will feature this week, especially those who played a central role in Ireland retaining their Six Nations title, yet Cullen is set to recall a plethora of his big guns at the RDS.

The way Leinster see it, next week will look after itself, beginning Monday morning, but with the pain of the 2022 semi-final defeat at home to the Bulls still very much fresh in the memory, Cullen’s side are braced for another ferocious challenge.

Yesterday’s video session included clips of that one-point defeat, which served as a timely reminder of what the men from Pretoria are capable of.

“I’m sure they will still take confidence out of that, albeit it’s two years down the road,” said Leinster assistant coach Robin McBryde.

“They’re a quality team. They look to dominate up front. They have got a strong scrum, strong maul, typical South African team really. A number of threats behind and in broken play, so we are going to have to be at our best.

“I think everyone is aware of it. In fairness to the Irish boys, they came back today and the energy during the training session was great.

“I have always been amazed with the amount of information they are able to take in in a short space of time.

“With the week being pretty heavily loaded today and tomorrow, there is no other way of getting around it. You just have to roll your sleeves up and get on with it.”

The likes of hooker Rónan Kelleher and Jordan Larmour, who may get another run-out at full-back given Leinster’s current injury list, are expected to be included in the starting team.

However, lock James Ryan (arm) is in a race to make it back before the end of the season following surgery.

In more welcome news, though, backs Hugo Keenan (hip) and Jimmy O’Brien (neck) could come back into the mix for Saturday week’s showdown with Leicester at the Aviva Stadium.

“I think it’s important that you treat each case individually because match minutes is one thing, but they have all been in that pressure environment,” McBryde maintained.

“If you’re lucky enough to get selected, you get to vent some of that preparation time etc. It’s just a case of sitting down and discussing how players feel, but we are getting to the business end of the season, so nobody can expect to have too long a lay-off because we have got to hit the ground running.

“That starts on Friday against a strong Bulls team. They are up there competing, they are probably pushing to get a home draw further down the line.

Cohesion

“So, we are going to have to get everybody reintegrated and build that cohesion in a very short space of time.”

The addition of South Africa’s four big franchises has enhanced the quality of the URC, with McBryde welcoming the tough tests that his Leinster pack have faced.

“They have raised the level,” the Welsh man insisted. “They base their game on that physical aspect, physical dominance up front.

“It’s just happened in the tours that we have had to South Africa, either we have been fortunate enough to have had enough points in the bag and been able to blood a few youngsters.

“Give them first-hand experience of what it’s like to play out in South Africa, a different environment, different country, different weather conditions. That in itself is a great experience, good grounding for some of these youngsters coming through.

“They’re [South African teams] up there alongside the best [scrummaging teams], because they’ve got strength in depth and they’ve got an appetite for the tighter aspects of the game. It’s all well and good saying to the players: ‘Listen, they’ve got a strong scrum’.

“But you have to have that first-hand experience of knowing what it’s like to face a scrum that is going to go after you every time. Yeah, it’s great.”

As for the suggestion that the physical challenge the Bulls pose will be good prep for Leicester next week, McBryde added: “It will be a good test in its own right really. It stands on its own two feet. Leicester is Leicester. We know that’ s coming but when you consider the number of international players that they’ve got etc, they’ve got quality players throughout really.

“They’re going to be tough to beat, a tough nut to crack. They’ve got that cohesion of having been together for quite a bit of time so it’s just our work a little bit harder.”