Dan Sheehan: ‘Ulster do a great job of suffocating you in your own half ... we need to impose our game on them’

Dan Sheehan enjoys playing rugby, doesn’t consider it a job or a chore, and if he ever did feel that the sport was imposing on him unduly, he’d examine his mindset. .

It’s a simple outlook with a degree of charm that hearkens to amateur days when rugby was played for the love of the sport. Sheehan’s attitude is obvious from the manner in which he plays, energetic, ball-focused, and with a keen eye for space and opportunity whether tail-gunner in a lineout maul or haring down the touchline.

His “catch-me-if-you-can” burst after pickpocketing Toulouse scrumhalf Antoine Dupont in the Champions Cup final was straight from a minis playbook, run fast and ask questions later. Blair Kinghorn made the covering tackle, but a try would still have ensued if Sheehan’s team-mates had made better decisions or were sharper in their execution in the seconds that followed.

The Leinster and Ireland hooker is comfortable in most scenarios on a rugby pitch, whether executing the basic duties of the position, using his power and footwork in and through contact, or showcasing pace and athleticism in less densely populated areas of the pitch.

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Sheehan expunged the frustration of that Toulouse defeat by coming off the bench for a try-scoring cameo against Connacht and is looking forward to getting back into the number two jersey for Saturday’s URC quarter-final match against Ulster at the Aviva Stadium (5.0).

The 25-year-old pointed to the fact that Ulster completed a double over Leinster in the league stage of the tournament, so there’ll be no complacency. It’s not about revenge either, just an opportunity to prolong the season, a week-to-week focus being essential through the knock-out phase.

Sheehan said: “They’ve beaten us twice now, so they obviously have a very good game plan that counteracts ours very well. We need to make sure our management of the game is better. Ulster do a great job of suffocating you in your own half.

“You get into kicking battles where they let you sweat in your own 22, keep putting it down there and off the back of an aerial [win] they will just sweep in, and they have some incredible individuals who can take advantage and score.

“So, something we’ve looked at this week is breakdown on the back of last week and just general territory plays and making sure we play in the right areas and impose our game plan on them and not let them dictate how the game is played.”

At this point and coming off a World Cup season, there is a temptation to play up the element of fatigue, especially with Ireland’s two-Test tour of South Africa looming at the end of the month. Sheehan doesn’t buy it. “It’s certainly been a long season. I suppose it’s the same for the Ulster lads, who would have been playing games as well during that time [World Cup].

“I think we are all well looked after in Ireland. We do get time off and you don’t play every game. I think bodies are fresh, hungry for games. It’s an easy out to look at how long the season is and use that as an excuse, but it is the same for everyone. I think everyone is of the same mind; the coaches have done a good job in keeping lads fresh.”

Saturday’s game will pit Sheehan against Ulster’s hooking cohort of Rob Herring and Tom Stewart, with all three having shared time together in the Ireland squad. The Leinster man has found Herring to be generous with his advice.

“I met Rob the first time I went into camp. He has been hugely helpful to me. He gives everything, his time, his advice. He is a brilliant set-piece operator. Over the years in the lineout and the scrum I’ve learned a lot from him. Obviously, he is in good form at the moment, himself, and Tom Stewart. That’s a good pair there so that will be an interesting battle.

“I wouldn’t look at individual [opponents in analysis terms] as much as team processes. Obviously, there are certain individuals on teams that you spend a bit more time on. It has always been a good battle against different hookers in the Irish provinces.”

If Leinster were to win on Saturday, their most likely opponents the following weekend would be the Bulls. A trip to Pretoria and a chance to play in Loftus Versfeld at altitude – Ireland’s first Test against the Springboks in early July will be staged there – would allow Sheehan to experience something he hasn’t done before.

He said: “I don’t want to look too far into the future because we have to win on Saturday, I don’t want to be getting into that but it is obviously a huge stadium in rugby and I have never been to South Africa.

“You want to experience these places. You hear how it feels different in the changing-rooms and at altitude or how there is a different buzz around some stadiums. As a player you want to experience as many different environments as you can. That’s a pretty unique environment that is hard to replicate any place else.”

That road to Pretoria starts with a victory on Saturday.

Leinster, meanwhile, have been linked with 34-year-old Clermont Auvergne tighthead prop Rabah Slimani according to French newspaper Midi Olympique.

Slimani, who won 57 caps for France (2013-2019) and is out of contract this summer, can play both sides of the frontrow but is primarily a tighthead prop. Michael Ala’alatoa leaves Leinster at the end of the season, coincidentally for Clermont Auvergne.

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