For those who are time poor, James Culhane won’t play on Saturday against the Sharks in Durban, Max Deegan might, Leinster’s playing resources have been supplemented by unspecified players outside of Cian Healy who was photographed in training, while the likelihood is that a number of frontline players an senior coach(es) have returned to Dublin to start preparations for Saturday week’s Champions Cup clash with Harlequins at Croke Park.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen kept schtum when asked directly about the comings and goings, stating that all would be revealed on Friday lunchtime when the matchday 23 will be announced for the URC game against the Sharks at King’s Park. Alfred Hitchcock would approve.
Culhane and Deegan are following the return-to-play protocols after both were invalided out of last Saturday’s 21-20 defeat to the Bulls in the first 10 minutes. Deegan is in better nick. Prop Michael Milne has stepped up his rehab from a groin issue.
The gap between club and international rugby is widening - here's why it matters
Wing Andrew Osborne, a try scorer, and outhalf Ross Byrne also went off for HIA’s (head injury assessment) after their gumshields “pinged” on an app monitored by the independent match doctor. Both players returned to the pitch.
The Bulls won the game with the clock in the red having forced a scrum penalty, one of several awarded to them, during the match, centre David Kriel’s strike earning the home side the victory.
When asked whether Leinster needed to be a bit more streetwise when it came to that scrum in particular and the set piece in general, Cullen said: “Yeah, we have a pretty young (and inexperienced) group there,” a facet encapsulated not in age terms but the fact that loosehead Ivan Soroka has taken time off work to help Leinster out, going from playing for Clontarf in the AIL to staring down Wilco Louw in Loftus Versfeld.
Thomas Clarkson was at tighthead at that point in the game, while the hooker was Stephen Smyth, a first-year academy prospect. Cullen continued: “Ivan [Soroka] has been amazing. It’s an amazing story. He was upset after the game, I don’t mind sharing this, which makes me upset. He is such a great fella.
“I rang him six or seven weeks ago about the possibility of coming away on tour. He’s taken time off work to be here, and he’s jumped at the opportunity. He got capped in the Cardiff game and if you were in the dressingroom after you’d see his brother, Alex, present him with his cap. [It was] an unbelievably emotional moment, a privilege to be there.
“[In that moment] it’s not easy, a young academy scrumhalf [Fintan Gunne] putting the ball in, the crowd, Bulls, referee, everyone is putting pressure on him. It’s an amazing learning to go through. You’ve got to go through it sometimes, it’s hard to coach that on the training field. You get through it and all of those guys will be better for the experience.
“We live and learn. When you’re at this level, it can be a harsh learning ground. That’s how you learn fast. We were probably a little too inaccurate overall in that last 30 minutes. It allows the Bulls to create some dominant pictures around the set piece.
“We give away a penalty try and cough up a few penalties around the scrum as well. That probably plays into the referee’s mind at the end, you could argue that there is a hit and chase [on the engagement] from them, it [scrum] is unstable, and we are being forced to put the ball in.”
Leinster conceded 17 penalties, so to come within a whisker of beating the Bulls is an achievement that will spawn an element of pride, alongside a few regrets. It is matches of this ilk that some of the value in signing Jordie Barrett, RG Snyman and Rabah Slimani can be seen, playing alongside young players such as centre Hugh Cooney, secondrow Diarmuid Mangan and prop Jack Boyle.
As Cullen pointed out: “Jordie wasn’t here for preseason, he arrived post November, so it’s trying to get him up to speed, but we tried to give him a bit of a break for the Six Nations. It was important just in terms of that overall management of someone that’s gone from the Super Rugby season into the international season, straight into our season. He is fresh.
“He didn’t play for the Six Nations window, so he’s gone from Stormers through to Bulls basically without playing, so what’s that, an eight-week gap, a three-week holiday and a five-week mini preseason.”
Leinster have come down from the highveld in Pretoria to sea level in Durban for Saturday’s game against the Sharks. It presents its own challenge. Cullen explained: “Sharks are very aggressive in the air, and they get a lot of reward, kicking the ball a fair bit from nine.
“Conditions are unusual, the temperature is 27 degrees, but it doesn’t really paint the picture of the humidity. It’s very, very sweaty, so handling can be a challenge. Jason Jenkins [formerly of Leinster] is in their ranks, so he’ll have an idea of what we are trying to do.”
Maybe based on the cloak and dagger, just not exactly who might be doing it in a Leinster jersey.
