Cullen: ‘Jones is one of the shrewdest coaches there’s probably ever been’

Leo Cullen thinks Eddie Jones will galvanise England’s hurting club stars ahead of next week’s Six Nations opener in Dublin.

Saracens were the only one of seven Premiership sides to qualify for this year’s Champions Cup quarter-finals, with English clubs enjoying only a 33% win rate in the tournament.

Ireland’s three competing provinces made it to the knockout stages with nine wins from ten against their English counterparts – and the tenth a draw between Munster and Exeter at Sandy Park.

With those statistics in mind, it’s no shock Ireland are odds on to begin their Six Nations campaign with victory over England at Aviva Stadium – but Cullen thinks the wily Australian might make some use of it.

Eddie jones

“I don’t know what carry over it will have on England, but Eddie Jones is one of the shrewdest coaches there’s probably ever been and he’ll galvanise that group,” said Cullen.

“It’s not by accident they’re in Portugal and then coming to Dublin; he’s keeping that group together, [building a] bit of a siege mentality for them I’m sure. They’ve a lot of good players, there’s a hell of a lot of talent there if you go through their squad, and I’m sure he’ll do a hell of a job bringing them together.

So it’s going to be a tough challenge for Ireland but they’re obviously on a good run of form themselves so it’s going to be a good match up.

Rob Kearney and Jack McGrath will start in Leinster’s Guinness PRO14 clash against Scarlets tonight, eager to prove their fitness to Joe Schmidt ahead of the England game.

McGrath played 45 minutes against Wasps last weekend, while Kearney has not featured since the win over Ulster three weeks ago.

“I don’t have time restrictions on them, so we’ll see how they go,” he said. “They trained all this week. Jack got 45 minutes last week and coming back from an injury like that, especially for a tight five forward, getting time on the field is important. So it’s another opportunity to see what he can do. Rob has been unlucky since missing out on a few weeks; he missed out on the two European weekends, comes back in and it is a good chance to showcase his skills with lots of big games coming up.

“He was unlucky in the Toulouse week. He trained the majority of last week and he’s come through that fine.”

Ciarán Frawley and Hugh O’Sullivan start at half back, with the latter making his first start, while James Lowe returns on the wing having last played against Munster in December, where he was red carded.

Conor O’Brien and Rory O’Loughlin are given their chance in midfield, while up front there’s a chance to see a highly-rated backline of Caelen Doris, Max Deegan and Scott Penny in action together.

Jack Dunne, the 19-year-old first year academy lock, is on the bench for the first time and could become the 1276th player to play for Leinster.

“I’d hope everyone is motivated every week, but this is another window for a group of very motivated young people,” Cullen said.

“If you go in thinking you’re trying to mind yourself for X,Y,Z [game], then life becomes potentially more difficult for you because you’re presenting another opportunity for someone else to come in to take your spot in the team. Competition drives better performance.”

LEINSTER:

R Kearney; B Daly, R O’Loughlin, C O’Brien, J Lowe; C Frawley, H O’Sullivan; J McGrath, J Tracy, M Bent; R Molony, M Kearney; M Deegan, S Penny, C Doris.

Replacements:

B Byrne, E Byrne, V Abdaladze, J Dunne, O Dowling, J Gibson-Park, N Reid, J O’Brien.

SCARLETS:

J McNicholl; I Nicholas, K Fonotia, S Hughes, P Asquith; D Jones, K Hardy; P Price, M Jones, W Kruger, J Ball, D Bulbring, T Price, D Davis, J Macleod.

Replacements:

D Hughes, D Evans, S Gardiner, J Helps, E Kennedy, J Evans, M Williams, T Prydie .