Leo Cullen: 'There's no point looking too far into the future, or the past for that matter'
FOCUSED: Head Coach Leo Cullen. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Leinster boss Leo Cullen believes his team are ready to do business on the biggest day of their careers as they bid to beat La Rochelle on Saturday and claim the Heineken Champions Cup on home soil.
Cullen goes head to head once more with former Ireland team-mate Ronan O’Gara having lost both a European semi-final to the French club on their home patch in 2021 and then last season’s decider in Marseille having led throughout the game until the dying moments when an Arthur Retiere try broke Leinster hearts in a 24-21 defeat.
Now the Irish province has another opportunity to get over the line and win their first Champions Cup since 2018 with a victory that would end the perception of a Leinster team that has fallen short at the finishing line despite appearing to be the dominant team in the competition.
“It would be great, obviously,” head coach Cullen said on Friday when asked to imagine a win at Aviva Stadium. “It's so hard to win this tournament. You think you're on a roll at different stages. I think back to that time, 2011, 2012, and it was so hard up to that point but then you're thinking 'maybe it's not as hard as we thought it was.'
“But it is hard, it's unbelievably hard and there's so many good teams. To navigate your way through the season, there's so many bloody variables to get through.
“We've been very close. Very, very close last year, which was a painful experience, but you're down to the last what, two minutes of the game? You're ahead for the majority of the game and you give up the lead right at the end and that's it, opportunity lost.
“So credit to everyone, they've worked away to get back to that point but it's just on to the next one, isn't it. And here we are again.
“It's a great opportunity but it's about just delivering a performance and don't look too far into the future. Go back to the plan, deliver on the plan. Try to make a good plan before you deliver on the plan. Then it's just committing to the plan and making sure we deliver on our jobs. There's no point looking too far into the future, or the past for that matter.”
Cullen spoke of how different the Irish model of team-building was to the French Top 14 but was confident Leinster had what it takes to get the job done on Saturday, having selected a starting XV featuring 14 Ireland Grand Slam winners from this season’s Six Nation campaign.
"It's not a quick process to build a really experienced group. But, I think we have a very experienced group now and a lot of that group have learnt a lot since last year.
"A lot of them went away with Ireland during the summer and won a series in New Zealand. A lot of players in our 23 tomorrow featured in that, they've done some great things with Ireland since as well.
"You're looking for all of that experience to come to the fore now of playing big games.
"It's accumulating experience all the time, because that's the way our model works.
“So we’re not going out to the marketplace like a Top 14 team would do. It’s a slower process for us, bringing guys through but I think there’s a group here now that are ready to do business on the biggest day. So we’ll see how we go tomorrow.”
Leinster lock James Ryan, who will captain the side in the absence of the injured Johnny Sexton, predicted another close-run contest when they lock horns with La Rochelle once more.
"You just know finals are about fine margins and tomorrow will be no different,” Ryan said.
"It's going to be another close final I think, the big thing is we don't know how it's going to go tomorrow, but the big thing for us is we prepared really well all week, we're in a great space and we're excited to play in a home final.
"All the important parts of the game are still there. Defence is so important in a final, they've got a particularly good attack, great width, set-piece is crucial.
"So, it's just getting those areas right of the game. We're excited to play in front of our supporters, family and friends.
"It's a very unique, special day and we're looking forward to it."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
