Cullen keen to shoulder the load

Celtic League: Leo Cullen is by no means the first example of his kind, nor will he be the last. In the week when Lawrence Dallaglio called a halt to his test career to take a break from what he calls rugby's unforgiving treadmill, the Leinster and Ireland lock can thank his first, protracted, injury-enforced break from the game last season for feeling a good deal more refreshed than he has done for many years.

Cullen, likely to continue as captain in the absence of Reggie Corrigan for the province's televised Celtic League opener against the Cardiff Blues at Donnybrook on Sunday (5.15), is Leinster in microcosm at present. Province and player alike would just as soon erase the 2003-2004 campaign from the memory vault as well as the record books. Not exactly one to tell the grandchildren about. Now he's itching for the treadmill again.

He admits the shoulder problem that led to three dislocations in one 10-day period last October, prompting corrective surgery and an enforced 5½-month break from the game, had dogged him for several years. "But there was just no window to get the shoulder done. You were always conscious that it was something you should get done, but when can you do it? When can you find a six-month window?"

Having made his test breakthrough on the New Zealand tour two summers ago, Cullen wasn't inclined to turn down the chance to tour Australia, Tonga and Samoa last summer, even when he dislocated his shoulder against Samoa. Not with a World Cup in the offing.

"That (making the World Cup cut) didn't work out but I decided to bite the bullet and carry on playing in the Celtic League when I was made captain," he says. "But the shoulder went three times in 10 days. I did it in training, I did it in the Cardiff game (October 10th) and played again against Connacht the following week and lasted 40 minutes." Huh?

"I was already booked in to have an operation done but it was felt that I couldn't really do any more damage to it," he explains, laughing at the logic.

Even now, he likens such operations to "cosmetic surgery" and is endearingly phlegmatic about the epidemic of shoulder operations on Irish players in recent years.

"When you look around our dressing-room the amount of guys who've had surgery done is scary. Going through an average career of eight to 10 seasons you're probably going to have at least one knee or shoulder operation."

Cosmetic surgery or not, the security of knowing his shoulder problems have been corrected - not to mention having his batteries recharged - has him straining at the leash. He admits his current sense of well-being is "more a mental thing than anything else", adding sagely, "I think your mind will go before your body in most cases."

You'd have thought the enforced idleness, coming so soon after the disappointment of not making the World Cup - despite having played in all bar the Grand Slam decider against England and the Perth test the previous season - would have left him close to despair. But he recalls missing the World Cup almost whimsically.

"People everywhere I went meant well. They were genuinely gutted for you. It was funny to see the pity they actually had for you. I found it amusing in a way.

"Yeah, it was a big blow missing out on the World Cup but I was straight back into the Celtic League as captain. And injuries are part and parcel of the game. You can't let them get you down. Look at Gleeso (Keith Gleeson). He recovers from a broken arm and then breaks his leg. There's damn all we can do about it really. It just goes with the territory and I guess it makes you appreciate it even more when you're back playing."

Perhaps all the more so after watching Leinster for much of the five months' recuperation. While attributing Leinster's inconsistencies in the Celtic League to the spate of injuries and international demands, Cullen points out that but for the Heineken Cup pool defeat at home to Sale, "the year could have been a hell of a lot different.

"It certainly did go deeper than that (defeat)," he concedes, "but what it indicates is that even not playing to our best we still weren't that far away."

Any player who has risen through the Irish underage set-up is invariably familiar with the individualistic coaching ways of Declan Kidney. Cullen encountered Kidney at schools, under-19 and Ireland A levels.

"He brings a wealth of experience and he has a vast knowledge of all Irish players, which is a huge advantage. Gary (Ella) wouldn't have been in the same position, as an outsider, so that when we had a lot of injuries he didn't know who to turn to.

"I guess Declan also brings that winning mentality. Most of the teams he's been with have been highly successful. He genuinely has a really strong belief in Irish players, and he tries to instil that belief into the players. There's also an element of fun; it can't be serious all the time. So he brings a very broad mix to the job."

Cullen readily accepts "we did underachieve last year" and has a palpable desire to atone for that. A particular disappointment was that Leinster's famed home form under Matt Williams ebbed away, and so too did the crowds.

"It's fair enough if a team isn't doing well. We have to try and get their faith back and, I guess, put the pride back into the jersey."

Recalling the meetings with Cardiff last season, when they shared two wins apiece, Cullen is anticipating another "bruising encounter". Leinster won eight games on the bounce until the costly defeat to Sale last season, whereupon the defeat to Biarritz, which ended their European Cup campaign, kick-started a run of seven defeats. So Cullen makes a salient point when stressing that "a good start is vital as momentum is such a massive factor." Starting on Sunday.