Interview with Leo Cullen: Johnny Watterson talks to an English-based player who despite being around for a while is still driven by competition

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan appeared to be tilting at a number of targets at Tuesday's team announcement. Putting to bed issues that had irreverently popped up in the preceding weeks, O'Sullivan turned to the team-sheet and pointed to a clutch of players, Shane Byrne, Geordan Murphy, Leo Cullen and Johnny O'Connor.

The common denominator was they were all playing for English clubs. O'Sullivan's thesis was that he was not blind to the talents of those working abroad and asked was there not enough evidence in the team to prove it. Cullen, who acknowledges he has benefited this week from a sequence of injuries, was an unlikely candidate on the side of O'Sullivan's prosecution. Part of the regular Leicester teamscape with Murphy and Shane Jennings, the Blackrock secondrow partners Donncha O'Callaghan for his 18th cap on Saturday.

"Obviously I realise I'm pretty fortunate as Mal (O'Kelly) got knocked out at the weekend and Matt (McCullough) picked up an injury in training. I can't wait to play to be honest. I relish every opportunity I get now and try to make the most of it."

While Cullen, who will turn 28 in January, hasn't figured in either of O'Sullivan's line-ups against the All Blacks and Wallabies, his regular place with Leicester has kept his instincts sharp. Unlike the domestically-based players, who have been in the Irish camp for three weeks, Cullen has been travelling back from Dublin to play weekend matches in the Britain.

"I suppose it is one of the advantages in the pros and cons of playing rugby in England," he says. "I've been here in camp on the Monday and Tuesday of the last three weeks and I've gone back and played a game very weekend. It's a bit of an advantage because at least I'm still match fresh and sharp. I suppose it is an advantage to be playing every week. With the provincial guys there hasn't been any games. They're coming at it from a slightly different angle to me. It has been going reasonably okay over in England."

Cullen's claim on a secondrow berth for the Six Nations is probably a long shot but his experience tells him selection processes are rarely straightforward. This week 11 players were not available due to injury, six of them almost certainties to start. While he is not at the top of the queue, neither is he is in unfamiliar territory, having toured with the Irish team in Japan during the summer.

"The common perception within the squad is that there has been a little bit of disappointment over the last couple of weeks, maybe major disappointment. It was a disappointing result against the All Blacks and a disappointing performance as well. We never quite threatened them at any stage.

"Against Australia the first half worked pretty well defensively. Had some opportunities as well. Just didn't take them. Second-half performance we lost the plot a little bit. We just got a bit panicky. It's an opportunity to put that behind us this weekend."

Cullen's last match for Ireland was against Japan, while he last played alongside O'Callaghan in 2004 against the USA, when he came on for Paul O'Connell. It's another opportunity to show but he's been around too long and has been involved in too many narrow decisions to let wild hopes interfere with how he plays.

"The competition drives you, I think," he says. "Obviously it can be frustrating when you lose out to pretty tight calls. Players generally back themselves in those situations. It's always easy to argue a case for yourself. "

Tough too to excite against Romania. Regardless of team tunnel vision about performances, the public expect fireworks. In the entertainment game, that counts for a lot.