Leo Cullen: Leinstertainment of old still not enough

Glory days can wait despite eight-try Leinstertainment of old revisiting the Horse Show patch. No read on what collection Leo Cullen will field in Montpellier nor so much as a hint at which venue, the Aviva or RDS, will host their home quarter-final.

Wait and see, see and wait.

Cullen does state one point very clearly: the current performance levels will not suffice come April.

“It’s definitely something we need to keep working on. The semi-finals last year, did we have a ruthless enough streak in those games? Maybe we weren’t as comfortable as we should have been in that setting.

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“It’s important if we get back to another semi-final that we are better prepared. We still have a huge amount of work to do to progress.

“There are lots of good things in terms of being ruthless but we need to focus on getting better because we will need to be better later in the season so if we get to the game we got to last year the same thing doesn’t happen to us.”

Jordan Larmour, Scott Fardy and James Lowe already make Leinster better.

Dave Rennie, who coached the Chiefs to Super Rugby titles with Lowe scorching up the wing, on this necessary sabbatical if he’s ever to be considered for the All Blacks job, was asked if the 2018 Champions Cup winners had just put 55 points on his Glasgow team.

“They were impressive,” said Rennie. “Not going to be easy to beat but as you know there are some real quality teams in this competition.

The quarter-finals stage are cut throat but Leinster have excellent depth and playing a really good brand of footie.

“Yeah, hard to beat.”

Magic

Apparently, the reason an All Black cap never came Lowe’s way, despite an all dancing, offloading approach is visible in headless defensive antics.

“I know James well,” Rennie continued. “He probably created a couple of opportunities and a couple for us as well. He’s a really good player and will certainly add to what they have here.”

Leo Cullen and Luke McGrath found Rennie’s words hilarious when relayed back.

“They were a good match together – Niko Matawalu and James – no one was ever too sure what was going to happen,” said Cullen.

Stuart Lancaster is already working away on tightening Lowe’s defence, or perhaps his rashness, but the magic outweighs the flaws.

The rising influence of McGrath makes Joe Schmidt's call on who will shadow Conor Murray this season increasingly difficult to predict.

John Cooney has forced his way into the conversation while Kieran Marmion continues to perform for Connacht but McGrath has the rare ability of controlling a game's tempo.

See the darting 40 metre break straight after Matawalu’s first try which led to Isa Nacewa’s first score.

“He makes some great breaks in particular. He is a constant threat, which is important. Again, it goes back to looking at our set piece and our work at the ruck. I thought Luke capitalised on the space in and around the ruck but we are a work in progress.”

McGrath, also quietly slipping into a leadership role, was asked of his advantage over Irish rivals by continually partnering Johnny Sexton.

“I’m just happy to give him the ball and him not to shout at me to be honest!” McGrath laughed. “I always say playing with him is like having an extra coach out there.”

Finally, Cullen was asked if moving Larmour to 13 is an indication of future residency. “Jordan, you ask him to play anywhere and he would say ‘fine’. It wouldn’t faze him. It’s a great luxury to have a player that is that versatile.”

Wait and see.