Leo still the man for the big show

Today, at the RDS, it will be Tom Denton’s turn.

Devin Toner, Damien Browne and Quinn Roux all have their goes, too. Four massive, ambitious men looking to secure a place in Leinster’s second row alongside the one lock the European champions simply cannot afford to do without when the curtain goes up for the big shows.

Leo Cullen is 34 now and has had his fair share of injuries, the latest being a set of troublesome Achilles tendons that required surgery and led to a lengthy absence from the game at a crucial juncture last season. The loss of Nathan Hines to France two summers ago was considerable at the time and it was only Cullen’s injury which opened the door for Brad Thorn’s brief but vital stay in Dublin towards the end of the latter half of the campaign.

The recent signings of Denton and Roux were never going to generate anything like as much excitement. Time is on both men’s side but, for now, Cullen most carry an increased workload. In fact, it is unlikely that his importance to Leinster has ever been greater.

“I got to play with Quinn against Dragons,” he said ahead of tonight’s PRO12 game against Edinburgh. “He’s a good lump of a guy, very explosive, very dynamic. Unfortunately, he rolled his ankle which ruled him out of last weekend. Tom Denton hasn’t had much opportunity but he looks like a good prospect as well and obviously Damian Browne and Devin Toner have been around for a while so there’s good competition for places.”

Denton made a cameo off the bench during the heavy loss to Scarlets in Wales earlier this month but this is the first start for the Irish-qualified, York-born 24-year- old who was schooled for three seasons by Neil Back.

All of which means that, like Cullen who soldiered alongside the World Cup winner at Leicester, Denton will know what to expect this evening given Back has been co-opted onto Michael Bradley’s coaching ticket to work with the forwards. It looks like a savvy move. Edinburgh have always been synonymous with a loose style of rugby and dynamic ruck play but Cullen has detected a greater grit in their setpiece while the signing of prop WP Nel from the Cheetahs was a signal of intent in its own right.

“Being a back-row forward, (Back) is very sharp all around the breakdown,” said Cullen. “When he was at Leicester, he worked mainly as a backs coach in conjunction with Paddy Howard. Richard Cockerill would have done the set-pieces. He worked with Graham Rowntree in the Academy. The way Leicester have played and the environment he would have operated in for 20 years or so, there’s such an emphasis on the set-piece, strong driving mauls. You see that Edinburgh have added that to their game. Neil has been around the game. He’s been a head coach as well at Coventry. He has plenty of experience from a coaching and playing point of view. I’m very impressed with Edinburgh when I’ve seen them this season.”

Joe Schmidt would appear to agree, given the 15 he has assigned for this particular task. Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll will pair up in midfield for the first time this season while Cian Healy makes his first start of the campaign. In all, the hosts have made six changes to the side that squeaked a win away to Treviso last week. Edinburgh have travelled without their star wing Tim Visser who has been rested, which is good news for Leinster but not so much for the neutral.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; A Conway, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, F Carr; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, S Cronin, M Ross; L Cullen, T Denton; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

EDINBURGH: G Tonks; L Jones, N De Luca, M Scott, T Brown; G Laidlaw, R Rees; J Yapp, R Ford, G Cross; G Gilchrist, S Cox; S McInally, R Grant, N Talei.

Referee: Neil Hennessy (WRU).