Cullen’s mind open for final calls as Leinster go strong
Leo Cullen says his mind is not yet made up on the make-up of the 23-man squad that will take on Toulouse in two weeks’ time.
And yet the door hasn’t been opened for many as the coach made true on his promise to go strong in the remaining URC games before they go to London in a fortnight. This is a real case of no messing around.
Of the squad that took on Northampton Saints, Joe McCarthy, James Lowe and Harry Byrne can put their feet up and the other 20 are pressed into service.
Garry Ringrose, James Ryan and Hugo Keenan are still a week away at least, so there’s a sense of continuity and cohesion triumphing over cotton wool this week as Luke McGrath and Jimmy O’Brien come into the backline and Rónan Kelleher, Jason Jenkins and Will Connors join the pack.
Cullen isn’t just thinking about the final. No, there’s an incomplete mission still ongoing in the URC – and if anyone was lulled into thinking Leinster are not taking that competition seriously, then they have their answer now.
Standing opposite them this evening are an Ospreys side who have a recent memory of winning at the RDS and are in a dogfight for a play-off and Champions Cup place.
The best of the Welsh regions, they are 10th in the table but have two winnable derbies to come after this. A point of some colour would do them nicely.
For Cullen and Leinster, this is about being ruthless. Playing at the RDS for the penultimate time before its redevelopment, a team of their calibre should win this and win it well.
“You get to this point of the season, the Ospreys want to play in the Champions Cup and make the play-offs,” Cullen said.
“There’s so much there for them in the game. Do we understand that?
“They’ve a lot of experience, Welsh international players. They’re a pretty cohesive group, well-coached, good attention to detail around some of the basics and the set-piece in particular.
“They’ll be a right handful. We want to see us improving on what we delivered last week. You want to go a level up all the time.
“Did we play better (between La Rochelle and Northampton)? I don’t think we got to the same level of intensity . . . the attitude has been good this week, we need to see a performance.” Verdict: Leinster
LEINSTER: C Frawley; J Larmour, J Osborne, R Henshaw, J O’Brien; R Byrne, L McGrath; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Furlong; R Molony, J Jenkins, R Baird, W Connors, C Doris (capt). Reps: D Sheehan, M Milne, T Clarkson, J Conan, J van der Flier, J GibsonPark, C Ngatai, T O’Brien.
OSPREYS: M Nagy; L Morgan, O Watkin, K Williams, K Giles; D Edwards, R Morgan-Williams; N Smith, D Lake, R Henry; J Ratti, H Sutton; H Deaves, J Tipuric (capt), M Morris. Reps:
S Parry, G Thomas, T Botha, V Skekete, J Morgan, L Davies, J Walsh, E Boshoff.
REF: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Leinster v Ospreys, Live, TG4/Premier Sports, 7.35