Interprovincial derbies are seldom a signpost for trying out new combinations on a whim, but that was the position that Leinster found themselves in last week.
With Caelan Doris on the long-term absentee list, and Jack Conan picking up an untimely bang in the Champions Cup win over ASM Clermont Auvergne, Cullen rolled the dice with one of his most dynamic forwards.
Some 140 games into his professional career, Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan was deployed at number eight for Saturday night’s win over Munster. The test Lion from 2025 played back-row growing up, and took to the task at hand at ease.
The 28-year-old made 17 carries, the most of any Leinster player, and nine tackles across his 80 minute outing. It impressed many in attendance, and most importantly, the Leinster coach who was full of praise for his captain.
“I thought he was very, very good”, Cullen said of Sheehan after the game.
“In terms of carrying the fight in the game, which is, you know, getting his hands on the ball in attack and being hungry to make hits defensively as well.
“Because when he’s playing eight, he’s in the middle of the field a lot more. Quite often the hookers end up on the edge quite a bit.”
Dan Sheehan played the full game at number eight
It opens up further questioning down the line as Sheehan swaps the blue of Leinster, for the green of Ireland. Cullen was asked if it was a move that Andy Farrell may copy, and highlighted the potential upside to it.
“It’s definitely a live option for them, whether that is in-game maybe or what because you have your bench”, Leo Cullen told reporters.
“You want to get Ronan off the bench potentially, or if Ronan is starting and Dan – whatever way that plays out.
“But it is good. I don’t think there’s any negative there.”
The modern age of rugby is full of ‘position-less’ players, as Eddie Jones once called it.
Levani Botia and Andre Esterhuizen cover flanker and centre for example, Matthieu Basteraud and Ma’a Nonu moved to the back-row towards the end of their careers, while props who line out on both sides of the scrum are coming back into the public eye once more.
Cullen is no stranger to rugby’s consistent changing face, and believes the flexibility of guys like Dan Sheehan is invaluable to teams.
“Getting dynamic players on the field is the big thing, isn’t it? In terms of the profile, a bit of versatility is good for the team”, the Leinster head coach said.
“It’s the players as well: they like a challenge. We have seen a bit of that this season already.
“We had Andrew [Porter] move back across to tighthead in round one, Robbie [Henshaw ]for round two in South Africa which we had prepped for that week because we had a 4-4 split on the bench because we were lighter on numbers for that second game.
“And then with Dan this week as well.
“It’s good. It gives us options for when we come to knockout games. They are live options. There are certain blocs of the season where they can be pretty attritional and this is game five of six.
“We’ll see what plays out. We remain open-minded.”
Leinster and Munster head coaches Leo Cullen (left) and Clayton McMillan
Despite slipping to their second defeat in their opening four URC games of the season, Munster head coach Clayton McMillan was forced to weigh up both the positives and negatives of their defeat on Saturday.
The 2023 champions left Dublin with a losing bonus point thanks to a last gasp Ben O’Connor try, however they surrendered a 13-5 half-time lead to their dear rivals, as they did in round one (versus Glasgow) and three (versus Ulster).
Still, having pitched up without a host of first-choice options, McMillan saw some positives in the performance.
“I thought in the first half, it was tough conditions. It was obviously windy, We’ve probably been a bit dusty the last few weeks around contestables, the high ball, and I thought we really challenged the air well today and got our fair share of ball from that”, McMillan said after the game.
“I like that we played with a bit of ambition. We threw the ball around a little bit more than they did in the first half and got some rewards, scored a nice try, defended for some long sets, looked really comfortable.
“So lots of little things. I didn’t think there was any one particular thing that stood out for me tonight, but certainly lots of little positive moments.”
The pre-game coverage was diverted by Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad announcement for the November window, where his 36-man panel contained just two Munster men.
When pushed on it, McMillan asserted that it did not dominate the conversations in training.
“I don’t think it was mentioned once”, the New Zealander said.
“No, it’s out of our hands. It’s a team selected, it’s a quality side and as I said last week it’s a hard team to get into and we’ve got to be better.
“Nights like tonight and there are opportunities to put your hand up and we didn’t get the job done so there’s still growth to be had.”