Cullen follows the money trail

Time and again, Leo Cullen has teed up a Champions League tie as a meeting of opposites.

The Leinster head coach has talked about the money available to, and freely spent, by the likes of Toulon, Wasps, and Clermont in his two-and-a-bit years in charge and how the Irish provinces have sought to succeed with a very different business model.

Exeter Chiefs don’t quite fit the Anglo-French mould we in Ireland like to drape over most opponents from the Top 14 and Aviva Premiership, though. Hewn from an unfashionable but charming West Country town, they are the sort of country cousins that are easier to like.