Leinster assistant coach Cullen insists Leinster’s focus remains on their ‘challenging’ Guinness PRO14 semi-final against the Scarlets before they even begin to think about their Champions Cup final showdown with Racing 92.
Cullen knows their standing as Champions Cup favourites will count for little when they face the Scarlets in Dublin on Saturday, with the PRO14 title at stake.
The Irish province accounted for Racing in the semi-finals of Europe’s top club competition less than a fortnight ago, and defeated Glasgow in the PRO14 quarter-finals, but Cullen is adamant they are different propositions.
They are a different beast. Even though they have a lot of players in common, they are a different beast, Cullen said.
We are very appreciative of the challenge that is coming down the line from Scarlets, and that’s all we are focused on. You can’t afford to look any further than the challenge that is coming this weekend.
Scarlets are a tough team to play against, their record speaks for itself. They play with huge intensity, they’ve got some really dangerous players right across the pitch, and they are a very well-coached side.
Cullen praised the contribution of Scarlets fly-half Dan Jones, who is in contention to start against Leinster.
‘Exceptionally good’
He’s an exceptionally good young player, one of those players who is probably ahead of his years, Cullen said.
We need to be aware of his threat. He’s a very, very good player.
That is hopefully where we are going to be successful, is our ability to control the game and not turn over the ball cheaply, deny them opportunities to play on our terms and dominate the game.
Leinster will be heavy favourites against Wayne Pivac’s team, but Cullen is taking nothing for granted, with a home semi-final defeat to Scarlets still fresh in their memory from two years ago.
We just need to be mentally prepared for the challenge, Cullen said.
We’ll need all of our players performing right on the edge, not just our starting XV, but we will need all hands on deck, and we will need to be really accurate and disciplined in how we play the game on Saturday night.
Flanker Josh van der Flier and centre Robbie Henshaw have been included in Leinster’s squad despite concerns over injuries, but scrum-half Luke McGrath will miss the game because of a hamstring problem.
Kind regards C. Dixon.
