LEO CULLEN INTERVIEW:The Leinster captain has been involved in no less than three semi-finals and he tells JOHNNY WATTERSONhow each one had its own character
LEO CULLEN is no green horn when it comes to European semi-finals. The Leinster secondrow understands the vagaries of how teams handle big moments and how in some circumstances they do not.
This week Cullen watched a piece of video of Leinster’s early season Heineken Cup match against London Irish at the RDS.
His reasoning was as much to do with extracting what Leinster did so badly in that wobbling start to their campaign as much as it was to take some of the encouraging tracts to France. From the match he concluded that you rarely get what you expect to get.
Back then Leinster were in no position to claim they could successfully defend their trophy. But Cullen is not squeamish about watching some car crash moments.
He is the Leinster captain for a reason and one of them is his ability to use experience wisely. From the muck you can sometimes dig out a diamond.
“You know we started off our campaign pretty rocky if you look back, playing at home at the RDS against London Irish,” says Cullen. “And I was actually watching a bit of the tape this morning just for a reminder. It’s important to make the most of it when you get into these positions. A lot of hard work goes into getting ourselves here.”
Cullen has been involved in no less than three semi-finals, two of them with Leicester and also last year’s successful run to the final with Leinster.
All of the games have made for exciting days and moments players dream of having and each match has brought something different. Every semi-final has had its own character.
“I’ve gone into semi-finals like when we played Perpignan here in 2003, we were massive favourites to go through to the final but it wasn’t to be on the day. Perpignan were supposedly not great travellers and we came unstuck, I think due to inexperience more than anything else.
“We played the semi-final over in England where Leicester were at home against the Scarlets, who had gone through the pool stages unbeaten and had a massive bit of momentum. But Leicester sort of dogged out a win.
“And obviously again the semi-final last year. They are great occasions and the players want to be successful just because a lot of us know there isn’t that much time.”
The Wicklow lock is a pragmatist at heart. He is in his 30s, while players like Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan, while not staring down the barrel of a gun, have been around long enough to feel the creep of younger players into threatening positions. No complaints there, but it lets them know where they stand. “The team wants to be successful for the team, I think,” explains Cullen.
“As we said last year, there’s quite a lot of experienced players in the squad and experience can also mean guys are getting on a bit. They realise they might not have many of these days.”
Not many of these days, perhaps. But Cullen also has the feeling that those he meets in the streets, in the media and at home give off a stinky vibe. His sense is Leinster have not convinced everyone they have the capacity to go to France and claim their second European final in two years. That’s a challenge.
“I think there is a feeling . . .” he says. “I certainly sense that people wouldn’t give us much of a chance. It is a new sensation for some of us. We went into the semi-finals last year and people wouldn’t have given us much of a chance. The way you get asked questions you can sense the way people feel about things.
“I suppose that makes you a bit more determined about things. As a team I think we are well capable of travelling. It is always a nice feeling when you get written off and we certainly feel we have a point to prove still.”
Two finals in succession would do that nicely. Whether it’s the Kearney, Fitzgerald, Sexton injuries or something else Cullen’s instinct is probably accurate in that the buzz on Leinster is more down than up. As it was, in fact, for the 2009 final in Murrayfield.
