LEO CULLEN is hoping bigger will be better as Leinster lock horns with La Rochelle once again.
The French side won the 2021 semi-final and the 2022 and 2023 finals against Leo Cullen’s side who finally came out on top in a pool game last December.
And Cullen has reached for that formula again with Will Connors – who won the last of his nine Ireland caps three years ago – preferred to 2022 World Rugby Player of the Year Josh van der Flier.
It is rare for a current Ireland regular to lose out on selection to someone who is not for the province.
But Cullen said: “He is an Irish international nonetheless. That current part is based off the fact that he had a spell with injuries and he is trying to build a bit of robustness
“You go through periods where you pick up injuries but he has shown good robustness this year. We think he’s ready for this challenge. He has been good this week
“He gives the players around him a hell of a lot of confidence. They love playing with him because they know what he is going to deliver for them and he is uncomfortable for the opposition to play against as well.
“Defensively, everyone has seen the strengths he brings to the group.
They have some big men, just trying to get them on the ground, I thought he did a particularly good job in the game against La Rochelle over in France.
“I think he’s the best chop tackler in the game, that I’ve come across. I’m struggling to think who is better out there.
“In terms of getting guys on their backs, and they’ve got some big guys so get them on their backs and make them have to work, I think he delivers that in spades and we’ll see how he goes.
“He’s a great guy in the squad, lads love playing with him, and Josh will give good impact as well, like he did over there, and we’ll need that over the course of the game.
“It’s a similar piece with the front row, we’ve got some good quality coming off the bench so those guys need to be able to deliver impact off the bench.
“It allows the starters to go hard and deliver, they’re not sort of conserving any energy, they’re giving it all. Hopefully we’ll see that from starters and finishers.”
That is underlined by the fact that Leinster were leading both of the last two finals with 10 minutes to go.
Cullen said: “It comes down to those very tight moments in the end, obviously one where we’re in a sequence defending.
“If you think back to Marseille, and we had opportunities to probably play down the other end of the field.
“The key thing is to keep playing, isn’t it? In some of these finals where we’ve had leads.
“It’s La Rochelle in this case but if you sit back, any good team is going to fight back in these big games so it’s making sure we keep playing our game is probably the big thing.”
MUSCLE MEN
But, more than anything, the emphasis is on trying to ensure that Leinster do not get outmuscled again.
With James Ryan absent, Jason Jenkins is chosen in the second row ahead of Ross Molony, with Cullen freely admitting that novice Louis Penverne will be targeted.
Cullen said: “Jason is a big man, again going back to that just big, physical piece, just hopefully Jason will deliver on that physical part.
“Scrum-wise we want to try to go after La Rochelle, they’ve a very young 20-year-old loosehead there, so it’s making sure we’re painting dominant pictures around the set piece, I think that’s important.”
Cullen hopes too that the presence of Jacques Nienaber – who teamed up with Leinster after leading South Africa to World Cup success – can ensure a different outcome to a do-or-die clash between the sides this time around.
He said: “He has a lot of experience and delivering in knockout games. The winners progress and the losers go home.”