LEO CULLEN HAS teed up tomorrow’s titanic clash between his Pro14 champions and defending European and English champions, Exeter, by insisting his players are determined to add to their CVs by notching up another title.
With five trophies in four years, Leinster have become the Pro14’s dominant side; Exeter, their opponents in tomorrow’s Champions Cup quarter-final, can make a similar boast in England. The difference, of course, is the latter league is considered the much stronger one.
“I definitely do believe that the group is as motivated as ever,” said Cullen earlier today. “It’s such fine margins on the day. Every team in the last eight have a strong desire to go on and win it out but it is never easy to win against a team as good as Exeter.
“Once they gain access into the 22, it has been well talked about how efficient they are there and how many tries come from that pick and go game.
“So, they are very, very efficient, very, very systematic in what they do. I think lots of teams know what is coming, but it’s can you actually disrupt that system that they have?
“We have had a decent week this week in terms of prepping and getting ready for Exeter. We know it’s going to be a huge challenge, but when you get to this stage of the tournament, you play the best teams in Europe. This is what you want to be involved in.”
Whether Leinster will still be involved beyond tomorrow evening depends on their capacity to come up with a defensive strategy to stop Exeter’s phase building obsession.
“The recent games we had against them a few years ago were unbelievable physical battles.
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James Ryan celebrates a try in the 2017 win at the Aviva. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
“We have looked back at those games for the last couple of weeks when this game was a possibility.
“I think it’s fair to say that both Leinster and Exeter have decent strong identities, do things a certain way.
“So, yeah, we know they are a systematic team, we know what they are trying to do. The next challenge is to try and stop what they are trying to do and disrupt that system of theirs.”