AS SKY’S DRESSING room camera homed in on the forwards in Leinster’s dressing room at half -time of their 22 – 20 loss to Glasgow in Scotstoun on Saturday, we were treated to a first glimpse of Leo Cullen at work as a forwards coach.
It was unspectacular. In fact, it was a notable scene for being uneventful. Calmness ruled, Cullen stood talking, Mike McCarthy listened.
“As a player you would look at yourself first,” Cullen said down the hall from his new office, “whereas a coach you have to look at the whole collective – including yourself – I guess that’s the big difference.”
What has not changed is his sandpaper dry wit:
“You can’t vent your frustrations in a physical manner any more, so yeah it’s a little bit different.
“Looking back to the weekend we had a pretty poor start to the game made even more difficult by the fact we gave away two pretty cheap tries: one where the ball pops out of the scrum and another where we ripped the ball free from a tackle and Josh Strauss runs 40 metres unopposed under the sticks.
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“I thought the guys battled back well from 19 – 0 down, but I don’t think we deserved to win over the entire game.”
Aside from having such sweeping recaps of games ready to fire when the microphones are turned on; as a coach, Cullen is no longer able to defer questions about other players.
Last week’s news that Jordi Murphy, a player who looked set to play a key role in his pack this season, would miss the opening third of the season came as a surprise to those outside the Leinster staff. The back rower was said to have complained about his shoulder in the latter stage of last season, so Cullen explains why he ended up having surgery on the problem shortly before the start of the season.
“It’s not ideal,” Cullen admits, “he managed himself through and I suppose they went with a conservative route to be able to try and manage the injury, thinking he’d be able to do enough rehab.
Bumps and bruises: Sean O'Brien, Ian Madigan and Sean Cronin sat out training yesterday.
“Unfortunately he got a bang towards the end of pre-season and it just made the matter a little bit worse. It’s probably just at this stage It’s better to bite the bullet I guess. It’s not ideal timing, but he’s two weeks into it already and managing his way back now.
“It’s early days, the predicted time was a 12-week injury so he’s two weeks into that. Hopefully he can shave a bit of time of that, but we won’t be rushing him back for the sake of it.”
The former captain hopes for better news around Noel Reid’s injury picked up within a minute of the new season. Cullen says the centre merely ‘rolled’ his ankle, though points out that the scan results will likely be confirmed this afternoon.
Kane is able
The new coach also found himself backing a player who has not even come under his watch yet. Australian lock Kane Douglas is expected to join up with the province in the next month and has already found himself under fire from a high profile opinionated Leinster lock of the past.
The criticism was sweeping and total, yet based on a remarkably small sample size. Cullen remains calm and assured about the man recruited to fill his shoes:
“I’ve seen Kane pretty closely and I know from talking to Michael Cheika how much he values him in [the Waratahs] environment.
“You can see the minutes he plays; they’ve got other second rows down there – Will Skelton and Jacques Potgieter – but Kane would play 80 minutes virtually every week.
“He’s an amazingly consistent performer over the last number of years. He may lack a bit of experience, at international level he’s got 14 tests, so he’s a baby in terms of second rows. We’ve signed him for three years and we hope they’re going to be some of his best years.”
'You can't vent your frustrations in a physical manner any more'
AS SKY’S DRESSING room camera homed in on the forwards in Leinster’s dressing room at half -time of their 22 – 20 loss to Glasgow in Scotstoun on Saturday, we were treated to a first glimpse of Leo Cullen at work as a forwards coach.
It was unspectacular. In fact, it was a notable scene for being uneventful. Calmness ruled, Cullen stood talking, Mike McCarthy listened.
Cullen has appeared to change in the months since he announced his new job. Last season, he was already considering his words as representative of the entire province rather than just the point of view of a humble player. Now, after finally seeing his pack in competitive action, he’s continuing to adjust to that mindset.
“As a player you would look at yourself first,” Cullen said down the hall from his new office, “whereas a coach you have to look at the whole collective – including yourself – I guess that’s the big difference.”
What has not changed is his sandpaper dry wit:
“Looking back to the weekend we had a pretty poor start to the game made even more difficult by the fact we gave away two pretty cheap tries: one where the ball pops out of the scrum and another where we ripped the ball free from a tackle and Josh Strauss runs 40 metres unopposed under the sticks.
“I thought the guys battled back well from 19 – 0 down, but I don’t think we deserved to win over the entire game.”
Aside from having such sweeping recaps of games ready to fire when the microphones are turned on; as a coach, Cullen is no longer able to defer questions about other players.
Last week’s news that Jordi Murphy, a player who looked set to play a key role in his pack this season, would miss the opening third of the season came as a surprise to those outside the Leinster staff. The back rower was said to have complained about his shoulder in the latter stage of last season, so Cullen explains why he ended up having surgery on the problem shortly before the start of the season.
“It’s not ideal,” Cullen admits, “he managed himself through and I suppose they went with a conservative route to be able to try and manage the injury, thinking he’d be able to do enough rehab.
“Unfortunately he got a bang towards the end of pre-season and it just made the matter a little bit worse. It’s probably just at this stage It’s better to bite the bullet I guess. It’s not ideal timing, but he’s two weeks into it already and managing his way back now.
“It’s early days, the predicted time was a 12-week injury so he’s two weeks into that. Hopefully he can shave a bit of time of that, but we won’t be rushing him back for the sake of it.”
The former captain hopes for better news around Noel Reid’s injury picked up within a minute of the new season. Cullen says the centre merely ‘rolled’ his ankle, though points out that the scan results will likely be confirmed this afternoon.
Kane is able
The new coach also found himself backing a player who has not even come under his watch yet. Australian lock Kane Douglas is expected to join up with the province in the next month and has already found himself under fire from a high profile opinionated Leinster lock of the past.
The criticism was sweeping and total, yet based on a remarkably small sample size. Cullen remains calm and assured about the man recruited to fill his shoes:
“I’ve seen Kane pretty closely and I know from talking to Michael Cheika how much he values him in [the Waratahs] environment.
“You can see the minutes he plays; they’ve got other second rows down there – Will Skelton and Jacques Potgieter – but Kane would play 80 minutes virtually every week.
“He’s an amazingly consistent performer over the last number of years. He may lack a bit of experience, at international level he’s got 14 tests, so he’s a baby in terms of second rows. We’ve signed him for three years and we hope they’re going to be some of his best years.”
The Cullen years?
‘Munster know what needs to improve and it’s not about talent’ — Zebo
‘We were lucky to come away from Glasgow with one point’ — Fergus McFadden
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