Leinster looking to Mayo's young guns for inspiration in bid for Holy Grail

Leinster have 14 Ireland internationals in their XV for today’s Champions Cup pool opener away to Clermont Auvergne.

Head coach Leo Cullen and senior coach Jacques Nienaber during a Leinster Rugby Squad training session at UCD in Belfield this week. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Leo Cullen has shared his own experiences of Mayo’s magical All-Ireland final win before, but it was worth dipping back in to that memory locker this week as he prepared his Leinster side to go again in search of its own Holy Grail.

The Leinster head coach was at that game in Croke Park. He drove up that morning from Wexford and still remembers how nobody on the radio – absolutely nobody – tipped Andy Moran’s side to get the better of Kerry.

So much more has stayed with him. How the wind was in Mayo’s face in the first-half, how their chances would improve if they could steady the ship after a rocky start and still be within reach come the break, and how young some of them were.

“That was the great thing. I was trying to get that message across to our young players, they have to just grasp it, and that was the thing about when we were in South Africa (for two URC games), it was younger players against more experienced guys. It was there for us, but we couldn't quite grasp it, which annoyed me really.

“That was the beauty of the Mayo victory, because it was predominantly younger players really grasping it on the big day, and you're never sure how they respond on the big day. That was the thing I really enjoyed about watching that game, because we're in the business of bringing young players through as well.

“You want them to get it now, so don't wait around, just take it now. We can all be a bit too respectful I think of our elders and all the rest, but that's what I loved about that game, not so much about the curse, but the emotion through the hill and the singing, when you have a fan base and then you get the momentum, and it becomes this unstoppable force.” Leinster have, as expected, looked to their experienced Test stars in recent weeks as the season stretches its legs. They have 14 Ireland internationals in their XV for today’s Champions Cup pool opener away to Clermont Auvergne. Another quartet will come off the bench.

But so much of what they do will hinge on the younger cohort. Today and going forward.

This is a big, big occasion for prop Alex Usanov and promising lock Conor O Tighearnaigh who will be needed in the second-half at the wonderfully atmospheric Stade Marcel Michelin, but more so for Fintan Gunne and Oliver Coffey.

All eyes will be on both scrum-halves given Jamison Gibson-Park still isn’t ready to make his first appearance of the season because of a lingering groin injury, Cormac Foley is also out, while Luke McGrath moved on to Perpignan over the summer.

Gunne is a 23-year old with 36 caps for the province already, but only nine of those have come in the No.9 shirt. His only Champions Cup experience up to now was 16 minutes off the pine against this same opposition two seasons ago.

Coffey is a year younger again. Still an academy player, he has featured just five times for the club with his first start coming just seven days ago when he was insulated by a similarly experienced side in the URC win over Cardiff at the RDS.

“They got their time in pre-season, grafted hard and we pushed them to another level because we just need our young guys to kick on,” Cullen explained. “The challenge is to just get the right level of games for young guys.

"Fintan's gone well, he scored a hat-trick first game against the Lions. They're different environments, they're just different accumulated experiences for both of them. Ollie got a start last week, Fintan got time off the bench.” This is the type of player Leinster need to make strides if they are to win that fifth Champions Cup this year given such a fair chunk of talent and experience left the building over the summer and very little was brought in to replace it.

That’s not to train the spotlight exclusively away from the core of Test stars that have, for whatever reason, underachieved in blue jerseys even while winning Six Nations with Ireland and a series with the British and Irish Lions.

Every side and every club needs regeneration. If that will mostly come from within this season then the return to club colours this weekend of Joey Carbery for the first time in eight seasons will be another interesting subplot.

Carbery backs up Sam Prendergast off the bench in France after recovering from an injury he brought back to Dublin from Bordeaux-Begles. He could yet be a key mover for this Leinster team if he can stay fit and find some form.

“Yeah, listen, he's been inside the four walls of the champion team for the last two seasons,” said the head coach. “So, he's accumulated tons of very relevant experience for us, for himself first and foremost, that we can all lean into.

“With his time away, he's a father now, and a much more mature person. He's seen a lot, been through a lot. He’s been great so far, but we're just keen to get him out there and enjoy himself and play into the potential that he has.” Nobody is tipping Leinster to go all the way this year. That might suit them yet.

Clermont Auvergne: J Bouraux; B Delguy, AJ Lam, L Darricarrere, J Jurand; H Plummer, B Jauneau; G Akhaldze, B Massa, N Ez Zahouany; T Lanen, D Swain; K Tixeront, A Hemery, K Noah.

Replacements: P Narisia, S Lotrian, L Michaux, L Vermeulen, A Chalus-Cercy, B Germain, M Belaubre, M Frisach.

Leinster: H Keenan; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J O’Brien; S Prendergast, F Gunne; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan; R Baird, J van der Flier, J Conan.

Replacements: A Usanov, R Kelleher, T Clarkson; C O Tighearnaigh, S Penny, J Carbery, O Coffey, J Osborne.