Cullen ramps up pressure on Leinster

Leinster are the side with three stars on their shirt, as triple winners of the European Cup, but Leo Cullen believes Montpellier boss Vern Cotter is under greater pressure to win this season’s title than he is.

The Kiwi joined the Top14 side in the summer, and was immediately rewarded with three blank cheques which he used to sign up Ruan Pienaar, Louis Picamoles, and Aaron Cruden.

With a huge pack and a well-stocked backline already in place, recruiting a world-class 8-9-10 axis like that means big things are expected — and soon.

Cotter is home in New Zealand for his mother’s funeral, while a thigh strain ruled Cruden out of the game, but Montpellier will be eager to send out a message with victory at the RDS today.

Just nine months ago they lost 57-3 in the same venue, but there’s no chance of a similar scoreline today against a team who have begun the season in flying form. “Are they contenders? Definitely,” said Cullen.

“When you have that much quality and experience, it’s just a question of whether you can get it together. They’re not buying or bringing young players in, they’re bringing guys who have done the business around the place, and have international experience, there’ll be a strong expectation on Vern to deliver success very, very quickly.

“There was a strong expectation on Jake [White] as well, he didn’t quite deliver it and Jake is now not there anymore. That’s the way it works in some of these clubs.”

Montpellier’s squad depth may be the thing that denies them European glory this year, and it will be fascinating to see how Cruden’s replacement; 19-year-old Thomas Darmon, does on his Champions Cup debut.

The Cruden v Sexton battle was to be the one to watch but neither party is available, with Ross Byrne starting for Leinster after the Ireland No. 10 suffered a dead leg in training. Leinster will doubtless attempt to unsettle the youthful French out-half, but Darmon has no shortage of bouncers around him.

“Bismarck du Plessis is a big player for them to have back, he was injured for the games last year,” Cullen said.

“He is someone who is really strong, abrasive around the contact area, a big leader.

“There is Ruan Pienaar and the control he gives at nine. He has that real touch of class about him.

“Picamoles is a good talisman for them, a really strong carrier. Cruden is the one we talked a lot about, we expected him to be there but he’s not. I watched Darmon play Castres and he’s very young, but Frans Steyn will probably take a lot of the kicking responsibility off the 10 because he can kick the ball a mile. They have some of the traits they had last year, but, it is the eight, nine, 10 is probably the big difference.”

Cullen could have added 11, the shirt Nemani Nadolo will fill. The giant winger is quite the physical specimen, but there’s more to him than just size.

“People forget how skilled he is, I remember some unbelievably skilful tries he’s scored, at Crusaders,” said Isa Nacewa. “He’s a smart player too, and people forget he’s got a great left foot — he used to goal kick too for the Crusaders. That’s one of his biggest threats, beside his size.”

Nacewa skippers the side from inside centre, with Robbie Henshaw wearing No. 13, while Barry Daly gets another shot on the left wing after a positive start to the season.

“We’ve focused a lot on ourselves this week and getting the basics right,” Nacewa said. “The forwards know that starts with the set piece, then Ross has to control the game well, and the leaders on the field have to step up, if we can do that we’ll be in with a shot.”