Cullen’s youngsters have taken Leinster into a bright new era
LEO CULLEN must have had sleepless nights worrying about the gamble of putting a raft of rookies into his team but the transformation over the past 12 months means the Leinster coach can have confidence in selecting his kids.
Hours of shuteye were lost a year ago facing into the dead rubber round five RDS clash with Bath in the Champions Cup. Four pre-Christmas defeats had already counted Leinster out of the running and Cullen, a coaching rookie trying to grasp a lifeline, put what was left of his battered reputation under scrutiny in handing a half-dozen youngsters first European starts.
What followed was an epiphany, the victory proving that sticking with the tried and tested inherited from the Matt O’Connor era wasn’t a formula to take the province forward.
Instead, promoting unproven younsters and creating better competition within the squad became the way to go and next Friday the reward for that fresh perspective should come; a win at home to Montpellier will qualify them for Champions Cup quarter-finals.
The rout of hapless Zebre two days ago teed up the coming week, the philosophy that young is good reinforced by rising academy star Rory O’Loughlin, who grabbed a hattrick to punch his try tally up to five in two outings. Time to ponder.
‘Competition for places is tough now and there is going to be some interesting discussions had with the coaches,’ admitted Cullen (above). ‘It’s a good place for us to be in. There are certain positions where guys have put their hand up well and it’s making life difficult for us.’
It’s a predicament that sure beats the sleepless angst of last January. Cullen had spoken prior to this campaign about how last season’s disappointing exit was a reminder of how much Europe meant to the club and now with last-eight qualification in sight, there’s nothing better than facing into this term’s round five fixture with so much riding on it against a bruising Montpellier who put one over Leinster in October and tuned up for Dublin with a narrow Top 14 win over Bordeaux.
‘It’s nice to be heading into the last few rounds of Europe pushing hard for a quarter-final place. I’m expecting it to be very tough against one of the biggest teams we have seen,’ reckoned Cullen, now looking the part in his second season in charge.
‘They have that mix where they have a lot of power but also very good distributors that are able to put big width on the game and have big men who are quick and able to run the wide channels as well.
‘They have a lot of threats. Just their size and power is impressive and we need to prepare really well. They are an astute bunch.’ Having gladly put to bed one long-running hamstring saga, Johnny Sexton looking healthy and sharp in his 56 minutes versus Zebre following a 48-day lay-off, it was bizarre that someone else would quickly enter the treatment room with the same problem, Sean Cronin limping away just 17 minutes after Sexton departed to a standing ovation.
The hooker’s need for a scan to assess the extent of his damage was the only downside to the 10-try hit-out described by Garry Ringrose, one of the young guns Cullen has learned to trust in, as a perfect lift-off with the French lying in wait.
‘Definitely it’s good momentum going into next week. We had to do the best we could and weren’t too far off. Next week is just a massive game. Our goal from the off has been to get into a quarter-final and we have an opportunity to do that and everyone is on the same page,’ stated the Leinster centre.
‘We want as close to a full house as possible, as many people to cheer us on. It’s a big day for the club.’