Cullen implores his Leinster charges to 'capitalise on opportunities'

Caspar Gabriel of Leinster in action against PJ Botha of 10bet Lions. Pic: Shaun Roy/Sportsfile

The feeling in Leinster camp in week two of their season-starting South Africa trip is certainly different to last year, when they were coming off the back of a 35-0 hiding to the Stormers in Johannesburg.

On that occasion, Leo Cullen was in mini-crisis mode, even in the knowledge that the province's biggest home-grown stars were still to return after their British and Irish Lions exploits.

"It was pretty horrific," recalled Cullen on Thursday. "I can still picture Luke McGrath and myself doing the press conference after. That was pretty dark now. We travelled up to Pretoria afterwards and I remember the meeting that we had up there."

Leinster responded by putting it up to the Bulls. 

They earned a losing point but still lost 39-31, making it the first time since 2003 that they had lost the first two games of the season.

This time around the destination was Durban and, this evening, the province will take on the Sharks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park (5.30pm Irish time). 

While there was frustration that the opener against the Lions ended in a 27-26 defeat, the mood was better given that Leinster banked two losing points.

Cullen admits he was relieved when the first try of Fintan Gunne's first half hat-trick arrived so early after the nilling 12 months earlier. 

"That's seven more points than we had this time last season," he remembers thinking. "But listen, it still doesn't take away from the fact that there's lots of opportunities in the game last week.

"We need to have a bit more about us, really, in terms of capitalising on the good things that we're creating. The message will be the same, making sure we capitalise on opportunities we create."

But improving on last week's result won't be easy. The Sharks have welcomed back their Springboks and, fresh from captaining the Boks in the victorious series against New Zealand, Andre Esterhuizen skippers the home side.

Tighthead Thomas du Toit makes his first start since rejoining the club - going head-to-head with Andrew Porter, who reverts to loosehead - while Ox Nche, Eben Etzebeth and Ethan Hooker are among the Sharks' replacements.

Leinster have made five changes, with Rónan Kelleher taking over the captaincy and Robbie Henshaw starting at centre but poised to deliver back row cover if required as Cullen has opted for a 4/4 bench split. 

Sam Prendergast provides bench back-up to 20-year-old Caspar Gabriel.

"Every week it's a different challenge down here," said the head coach. "If you're a little bit off, things can get ugly pretty quickly, as we've also experienced.

"So we need to make sure we're well and truly focused on the great challenge of the Sharks. King's Park is steeped in history, it's one of those real magical places in my eyes. Our guys just need to get excited about the challenge now and do everything they possibly can to get the result."