Leo Cullen opts for tested approach as Leinster prepare to battle on two fronts

Leo Cullen will take a squad of about 30 players to South Africa this evening for their forthcoming URC games against the Lions and the Bulls in Johannesburg and Pretoria with Rhys Ruddock expected to be named as Leinster captain.

The squad will be a blend of experienced and academy/club players, including the likes of Ireland Under-20 outhalf Sam Prendergast, while the frontliners will remain under the watchful eye of Stuart Lancaster at their UCD base in readiness for Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium on April 29th.

This is very akin to the approach taken for Leinster’s two-week trek to South Africa last April before their back-to-back Champions Cup quarter-final and semi-final wins over Leicester and Toulouse last season.

Ryan Baird and James Lowe are in a race against time to be fit for the Toulouse game after suffering shoulder and calf injuries in the 55-24 win over Leicester, as is Josh van der Flier, who missed last Friday’s game due to the ankle injury he sustained in the preceding Round of 16 win over Ulster.

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Leinster’s weekly medical update said Baird “will be unavailable for a few weeks” and that Lowe “will be further assessed this week”, while there were “no further updates” on van der Flier. But Seán O’Brien, Leinster’s contact skills coach, said none of the trio has been ruled out of the quarter-final as of yet.

The news on Baird was “pretty positive” said O’Brien, adding: “He looked sore, but he soon realised afterwards that it wasn’t as bad as he may have thought.”

As for Lowe, O’Brien said: “Hopefully he’s still in the picture”, while he sounded the most optimistic regarding van der Flier.

“I think he will be okay too when it comes down to it. He’s progressing well. Josh is one of these lads who is meticulous with his rehab and the way that he looks after himself, so he is in a pretty good and positive place.”

Will Connors and Max Deegan will also be among the squad travelling to South Africa. “Selection is a tough process at the minute for the coaches. I don’t really have much say in that, but we have plenty of options there,” said O’Brien.

Against Leicester, Caelan Doris wore the “7″ shirt while Scott Penny again made a positive, try-scoring impact off the bench and if it came to it, O’Brien has no doubt the latter could fill the shirt against Toulouse.

Asked where Penny needs to further develop his game, O’Brien highlighted his work in the breakdown “and causing a mess in there and staying in the fight. His tackle technique and his ball carrying is a really good strength of his and his pace – he punches into holes.

“So probably around the breakdown is where Scott needs to be more of a menace and cause havoc in there as much as he can, but he’s definitely one of our most consistent players.”

Reflecting on Leinster’s performance against Leicester, O’Brien said: “I thought it was really good. There were lots of pleasing elements in it. I thought we got a bit loose probably in the first half, we were chasing a few holes, got turned over a few times, but sometimes it happens.

“They’re a hard team to play against in terms of they put it in the air a lot, they have a good kick-chase. Their plan, it’s difficult to play against at times. I thought the boys dealt with it really, really well. The second half we turned it up a few notches and got into our flow a bit more.”

He described Toulouse’s 54-20 win over the Sharks as a cracking game, and also a very loose one.

“The Sharks were good, caused them awful problems as well, but then Toulouse, if you kick them loose ball or if you get a turnover, they’re all-out attack. I thought the Sharks looked tired, to be honest. I thought they looked fatigued, well into that first half even.

“Toulouse, we know the quality they have. We know what they’re capable of. So much experience on the field as well with Dupont pulling the strings. Ramos with his grubber kick, I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said O’Brien of Thomas Ramos side-footing a pass along his try line to Romain Ntamack. “The confidence to do something like that is phenomenal, that could go anywhere.

“They’ve definitely improved. We’ll have to do our homework and the prep will start for that now soon.”

O’Brien himself will be among the travelling party for what will, remarkably, be his first visit to South Africa; never having visited the country once in his playing career.

His remit, which doesn’t normally extend to taking in away matches, is suitable for O’Brien in his initial foray into coaching.

“It gives me time and space to do other bits and pieces. I can go home to the farm, I can be around Tullow. I can do the things that I enjoy doing, but at some point I’ll have to say, ‘right, what is my development? Where am I going and what do I want to achieve as a coach?’

“That time will come, but I think if you look at someone like Stu [Lancaster], the amount of years he’s been coaching, it’s 20 years or something. He has all that experience built up, whereas I’m seven or eight months into it. In 20 years’ time if you were somewhere like Stu would be, you’d be in a great place. But there’s a lot of water to flow under the bridge before that.”