LIFEIMI MAFI INTERVIEW: Gerry Thornleylooks at Munster's Musgrave Park romp and hears from the quick-stepping centre about their hat-trick hero, Keith Earls, their early-season flair with ball in hand and the general exuberance in the camp

AMID THE stunning half-centuries racked up by Leinster and Munster over the weekend, Keith Earls - no less than Luke Fitzgerald two days earlier - inevitably grabbed the limelight at Musgrave Park on Sunday with his hat-trick of tries. Among a highly impressive support cast, no-one was happier to stand in the shade than Lifeimi Mafi.

Of course it can be dangerous to hype young talents and burden them with excessive expectations, yet if we cannot get excited about gems like Fitzgerald and Earls we might as well give up.

Extolling the virtues of the 20-year-old converted fullback, Mafi agreed.

Asked if Earls reminded him of anyone, the ex-Taranaki and New Zealand under-19 and under-21 centre did not need long to ponder the question.

"Maybe Christian Cullen in his younger days," he said. "The elusiveness and the speed after the break, and he's got that swerve and that kind of step. It reminds me of Christian Cullen on his good days, but there's nobody like himself, so time will tell."

Indeed, there is a certain similarity there, all the more so when you look at the short-cropped hair and physical appearance, and not least (given their frames - Cullen was 14st and 5ft 10ins, Earls is 14st 2lbs and 5ft 11ins) Earls's ability to bounce off monstrous hits seemingly without bother, as the freakishly talented Cullen used to do.

Earls has some way to go, of course, and will undoubtedly have to face sterner tests of his underdeveloped positional sense at fullback.

Whether he ultimately plays at 15 remains to be seen, but given his innate willingness to try things and his eye for the try-line, Tony McGahan may have pulled off a masterstroke in thinking outside the box.

As Anthony Foley intimated after Sunday's game, and as many an example has highlighted prior to Earls, in Munster you have to serve your time before taking your chance, and Mafi confirms that Earls has done just that.

"He's doing the hard yards in training and it's paying off on the track, so good luck to him, and the boys are happy to see him out there putting on the colours."

Considering there was little or no input from Ronan O'Gara, Rua Tipoki, Denis Hurley or Kieran Lewis, not to mention Paul O'Connell, John Hayes, Tony Buckley, Alan Quinlan, Jerry Flannery and Denis Leamy, it was for Munster - no less than Leinster on Friday - an impressive early-season statement about their strength in depth, with big impacts from both benches and young talent coming through.

"Competition within the team is good," enthuses Mafi. "It makes you perform and I think you can see all the boys are performing and trying to get their spots."

As with Ian Dowling, Mafi's own contribution was significant if understated and entirely selfless.

The young centre played a big hand in five of the seven tries with his trademark ability to pick up passes off his lines and transfix defences with his superb footwork, his support play, his distribution and his eye for space.

On another day too, Paul Warwick's educated boot, vision and running game would readily have grabbed the headlines.

Alas - as with Warwick's appearance for the Australian Sevens - Mafi (whose Tongan passport means he is not classified as an overseas player) cannot qualify for Ireland at the end of this, his third season, through residency, having once played for the New Zealand Sevens.

It is an anomaly in the IRB rules that unions have clearly exploited to prevent players becoming eligible for anyone else.

The Munster backs may have dipped their bread with all seven tries, but Mafi was also quick to highlight the work of the forwards at the breakdown, which - given the murky new diktat from the IRB - was relatively clinical in seeking the vacant territory out wide in the Dragons' defence.

"They gave us clean ball and go-forward ball, and I think we had the mentality that they were cramped in the defence and so we tried to exploit that with the backs, and get it wide early and then let the outsides take it forward.

"I think our support lines after we made the breaks is what made the tries as well."

Early days yet; vastly bigger and sterner tests than the Dragons or an understrength, under-par Edinburgh await (including Edinburgh come the Heineken Cup for Leinster, all the more so after they have licked the wounds of a 50-pointer for five weeks) and there'll assuredly be defeats along the way.

However, not for five years have the provinces been able to call on their Test front-liners from the start of the season, which has clearly fuelled a real belief with management and players that Munster actually mean business in the Magners League this season.

"I think the boys have got a lot of confidence going into the games; we're working on our breakdown hard and the go-forward that we need," says Mafi.

"So when we go into the games we're looking for a performance first and then the results afterwards, and I think the results speak for themselves.

"It's been really good, especially the USA. Step by step, everything is going forward and the hype is there. Hopefully we can carry it on for the next few weeks."

Leinster captain Cullen on cusp of return to action

WHEN PLAYERS from the main Magners League teams first assembled this season in Dublin for the announcement of the 2008-2009 competition, Denis Leamy and Leo Cullen were able to discuss a subject that was close to both their hearts, writes Johnny Watterson.

The Munster backrow had recently undergone surgery on a shoulder that had been giving trouble for a number of years, while Cullen was more than four months over a similar operation. Patience was the mantra that ran through Cullen's conversation that day.

Today, the Leinster management are hoping the stoicism of their captain will have paid off and he will declare himself fit to play against Ospreys this weekend.

Cullen, who took over from Brian O'Driscoll this season as captain, has not yet led out the 2008 team as skipper after injuring a shoulder and taking the option of surgery last April.

That decision ruled him out of contention for Ireland's summer tour to New Zealand.

It has also meant a slow start to the season for the Blackrock College lock.

And if Cullen is not in the team announced for Friday, he will be in next week, a timely return given the first round of the Heineken Cup is fast approaching.

Leinster have their South African prop, CJ van der Linde, to slot in, as well as Rocky Elsom, who is expected to arrive in Dublin this week.

The Australian backrow has had an impressive, if bruising, spell in the Tri-Nations and will be in Dublin to watch, not play, as his new team face Ospreys in the RDS.

The former Munster secondrow Trevor Hogan is also back to fitness and looking for consideration, while Jonathan Sexton's knock last Friday is not seen as a serious concern.

In Connacht, Michael Bradley is hoping to have Johnny O'Connor available for the meeting with Warriors at the Sportsground.

The international openside flanker has recovered from an arm injury and according to officials "should be available". Munster, who went on a points rampage on Sunday, are nicely chilled for the arrival of Cardiff Blues.

There are no real injury concerns ahead of the squad announcement tomorrow. Ulster, looking for her first win, will pick a squad today to face Dragons before team selection tomorrow.