Cullen hoping to get repeat of last result against Saints

Leinster captain Leo Cullen is relishing a repeat of the 2011 Heineken European Cup final, when Leinster clash with Northampton Saints in the next round of pool games this weekend in Franklin's Gardens.

It was a memorable day in Cardiff in 2011, when against all odds, Leinster under then coach Joe Schmidt, produced a magical Johnny Sexton-inspired comeback, when they had gone into the half-time break trailing 22-6, to win the game 33-22.

However, Cullen says repeating the same performance will be difficult, considering they will be playing at Franklins Gardens.

He said: "They are a really quality team and are trucking along quite well in the Premiership at the moment, they have a really strong pack, it’s a really great ground and it’s a massive challenge for us this weekend."

Each season the December rounds of back-to-back pool games have proved crucial in determining who progresses from the pools into the knock-out stages.

Leinster are well aware of that as they fell at this hurdle last year and ended up having to play through the Amlin Challenge cup, which they won.

Cullen said: "It’s where we went out of the tournament last season, losing back-to-back games to Clermont and even though we got a bonus point away, it didn’t mean a huge deal.

"It’s a very difficult transition, playing the same team back to back so we need to learn those lessons from last year."

One of the biggest challenges for Cullen this year was trying to get fit. He played his first game this past weekend as Leinster recorded a Pro 12 victory over Scarlets to keep the pressure on Munster at the top.

Leinster’s captain had been injured since the Pro 12 final victory over Ulster at the RDS, suffering with an Achilles problem.

He would have played the full 80 minutes, but he was sent to the sin bin in the last 10 minutes of that game, clearly not ideal but he’s delighted to be back playing again.

He said: "I was pleased to get 70 odd minutes at the weekend, it was slightly more than I thought I’d get, it didn’t finish the way I had planned but I was delighted to get back playing.

"It’s pretty frustrating when you watch the games from the side line and it’s nearly six months since I last played in the Rabo final so I was just happy to be playing and being in the mix for selection is

nice."