{"id":186596,"date":"2025-12-11T20:34:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/186596\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:34:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:34:06","slug":"leinsters-leo-cullen-will-use-lessons-learned-at-leicester-in-bid-to-tame-tigers-champions-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/186596\/","title":{"rendered":"Leinster\u2019s Leo Cullen will use lessons learned at Leicester in bid to tame Tigers | Champions Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leicester v Leinster fixtures have become common recently \u2013 the fifth since 2022 takes place on Friday night \u2013 but the history between the sides runs far deeper. Leo Cullen, head coach of the Dublin-based province, spent a couple of seasons at Welford Road in the mid-2000s, winning the Premiership in 2006-07 <\/a>and losing a Heineken Cup final against Wasps<\/a> in the same season.<\/p>\n

Since 2022 the former second\u2011row has overseen four Champions Cup victories against his former club, including two in 2023-24. Three and a half years ago, there was a masterful quarter-final dismantling<\/a> of what was then Steve Borthwick\u2019s side. Leinster will now shoot for a hat-trick of Welford Road victories this decade, and the presence of the New Zealand international Rieko Ioane, on full debut, is sure to help.<\/p>\n

The respect between the clubs was illustrated by Cullen in his pre\u2011match media briefing: he opened by appealing for support for Lewis Moody after his former teammate was diagnosed recently with motor neurone disease<\/a>. Then he explained how his stay at Leicester had been formative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was based on hard work,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no secret to success, is there? Preparation and hard work play a huge part. That\u2019s the bit that will always be with me. It was tough going but I loved my time there. Cockers [Richard Cockerill] was starting off on his [coaching] journey. He was a hard taskmaster and he had attention to detail. There was great camaraderie, people coming together, an expectation with who you were representing. People used to queue outside, before the gates opened, to get their spot on the terrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Leinster first won Europe\u2019s top club competition under Michael Cheika \u2013 defeating none other than Leicester at Murrayfield in 2008-09<\/a> \u2013 expectation in Dublin has risen. They have won four titles but been runners-up four times, including a hat-trick of consecutive final defeats in 2022, 2023 and 2024. There is a growing feeling that another title is overdue, and pressure is something Cullen learned about at Leicester.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an expectation there, a positive expectation, a positive pressure,\u201c he says. \u201cI loved it, couldn\u2019t speak highly enough of it. Did it shape me? Yeah, it shaped me in many different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rieko Ioane made a big impact for Leinster against Harlequins and will make his full debut against Leicester. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/INPHO\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

On Friday Cullen will go up against Geoff Parling, another Tigers playing alumnus, who joined Leicester<\/a> as head coach during the summer after five years as Australia\u2019s forwards coach. Cullen revealed that Parling visited Dublin last November, in his role with the Wallabies, to learn about Leinster\u2019s coaching methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came in for a day and lo and behold, now look where he is \u2013 coaching against us,\u201d Cullen said, laughing. \u201cThere\u2019s always a bit of a risk they [visiting coaches] might find a bit too much information. We\u2019ll know more at 10 o\u2019clock on Friday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cullen added that Leicester\u2019s game under Parling is based on \u201cstrong fundamentals \u2026 set piece, lineout, maul\u201d. \u201cThey will kick a lot from No 9,\u201d Cullen said. \u201cVery strong aerial game. Both wingers, they\u2019re quick fellas, and there\u2019s plenty of commentary about that<\/a> at the moment. We expect an aerial bombardment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ioane, who has scored 38 tries in 88 All Blacks appearances, made his debut off the bench in the opening Champions Cup<\/a> win against Harlequins last Saturday. He lines up at outside-centre alongside Robbie Henshaw at No 12. Tadhg Furlong and R\u00f3nan Kelleher return among seven changes made by Cullen, with Dan Sheehan\u2019s presence on the bench demonstrating the squad\u2019s depth and power. Joe McCarthy and James Ryan, winning his 99th cap for the province and back from suspension, pair up in the second row supported by a world-class back row of Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris.<\/p>\n

Leicester are without the injured Ollie Chessum, as well as Emeka Ilione and Jack van Poortvliet, but are able to welcome back five Test players: England\u2019s Freddie Steward, Joe Heyes and Jamie Blamire return alongside Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith of Wales. Reffell, whose partner, Annabel, gave birth to a daughter, Nancy, this week, is captain. George Martin, whose impending departure to Saracens was announced this week, remains out with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

The injured Chessum revealed he will soon need to find new motivation when facing the Leinster<\/a> players he befriended on the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia. \u201cI\u2019d not come across a lot of the Irish boys before, and I got on very well with them,\u201d Chessum said. \u201cIt was quite easy to motivate yourself by creating a narrative around what they\u2019re like as people. Now I\u2019ve met them, I know that\u2019s not always the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leinster contingent may wonder about the qualification of \u201calways\u201d, but strong new friendships have clearly formed among players on each side. This will be just another chapter in a historic, and largely friendly,\u00a0rivalry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leicester v Leinster fixtures have become common recently \u2013 the fifth since 2022 takes place on Friday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-186596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}