Leinster dealing with the noise as they chase deliverance
WALKING TALL:Head Coach Leo Cullen walks out at the Aviva stadium. Pic Credit: Laszlo Geczo, Inpho.
All this talk about Leinster's wait for a trophy?
Leo Cullen heard it all again on Friday morning as the squad went about their captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium and the head coach couldn’t help but inject some levity into the debate.
Only minutes had passed since co-captains Garry Ringrose and James, maybe ten other players, members of the Official Leinster Supporters Club and representatives of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust had stood pitchside holding the Regional Shield.
This is the third time that the keepsake has been awarded. Leinster have won it every time but this was the first time it has been based purely on results between the provinces rather than league positions.
So much for the drought!
“Yeah there is a definitely a lot made of it, the silverware for sure. We just got presented with a trophy outside, the Shield,” said Cullen. “Some of the players literally just touched it, so the shield is the bag, so yeah.”
Adding the URC title to the cabinet will be a much tougher assignment. To do it Leinster will have to see off an Ulster side that has beaten them twice this season and then face a possible path of the Bulls away and Munster in Limerick to claim those goods.
All this with the "noise" of that Champions Cup final loss to Toulouse still buzzing in the background. It's noise which Cullen claimed to welcome given so much of it comes from their fanbase and 99.9% of it is positive.
"But sometimes they get pissed off because we haven’t delivered, or the opposition have delivered better than us. We’re totally accepting of that and we have our own internal pressure because we want to be…
“We’re not here just to make up the numbers, we’re here because we want to be the best team that is out there but, for us, we just need to deliver that into this week’s performance and we’ll see what happens next week, and next week is next week.”
They won’t have Ringrose again for this one. The centre was finally declared fit and available this week after a long-term shoulder injury but he clearly isn’t fully right and Jack Conan is another one to miss out as he has missed some training with a minor issue.
Hugo Keenan’s absence on sevens duties will again be camouflaged by Jimmy O’Brien’s selection at full-back and the brains trust has gone for a 5:3 bench split thanks to the versatility of Max Deegan across the back row.
Ulster get to bring Stuart McCloskey back in after the big Ireland centre sat out their narrow loss to Munster in Thomond Park last week and Richie Murphy has already laid the terms of engagement by labelling this a free shot for the visitors.
He’s right in that. Ulster have responded to their new coach’s voice since Murphy succeeded Dan McFarland in Belfast and this is a side that beat (an admittedly weaker) Leinster twice under the old regime. They have nothing to lose.
“There is always plenty of talent up there,” said Cullen. Richie coming in, you see it all the time in sports teams, a new coach comes in and you get that lift. John Fogarty coming in as well, doing their scrum and whatever he is doing with their forwards.
“And he knows our guys pretty well. But what are they doing well? Guys have a new lease of life, they’ve been good over the last while, I think it’s going to be a good test for us.”
J O’Brien; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.
R Kelleher, C Healy, M Ala’alatoa, R Molony, M Deegan, L McGrath, S Prendergast, C Frawley.
S Moore; M Lowry, W Addison, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney; E O’Sullivan, R Herring, T O’Toole; H Sheridan, C Izuchukwu; M Rea, D McCann, N Timoney.
T Stewart, A Warwick, S Wilson, G Jones, D Ewers, N Doak, E McIlroy, J Postlethwaite.
A Brace (IRFU).
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