How Leinster plan to tackle the Bulls' powerhouse scrum
SPOTLIGHT: Leinster head coach Leo Cullen believes that the absence of an Irish star would not have an impact when his team take on the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship Final on Friday.
Experienced Ireland international Andrew Porter will miss the URC Final through injury, with 15-cap rookie Jerry Cahir starting in his place.
Cahir has the mammoth task of going up against an incredible front row, which boasts Francois Klopper, Johan Grobbelaar and Gerhard Steenekamp.
However, the young prop will be assisted by Tadhg Furlong and Rónan Kelleher, leaving Cullen with confidence that it’s business as usual for Leinster’s team dynamics.
*Also read: URC Final: Key head-to-heads
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“Andrew [Porter] missed a big chunk of the season already, so there are guys who got plenty of exposure during the course of the season.
“We have huge faith in the group that we have.
“Our group dynamic is pretty unusual because we lose several international players for a large chunk of the regular URC season anyway, so everyone gets plenty of [game] time throughout the season.
“We probably use more players than any other team throughout the season, and the guys get a lot of exposure, and everyone needs to be ready at any moment.
“It’s one guy down, next man up, so we don’t get too bogged down by it.”
Cullen admitted that the Bulls will be tough to contain at set-piece, having experienced it before and coming out on the wrong end of the result when Leinster faced them away from home.
“If you look back at watching the Bulls over the years, they’ve evolved quite a bit since then.
“Their strengths are still based around power set-piece.
“When we play against them at Loftus Versfeld at altitude, it poses a different challenge altogether because the conditions are different from what most other teams would be used to.
“And with the style of game they play there, you try and match them at set-piece, but you also try and play fast because they have multiple threats.
“They can go through or around you when they manage to compress your defensive set.
“We’ve been up against the Jake White Bulls the last few seasons on different occasions in two semifinals and a Final as well.
“Jake is an astute coach, but since Johan [Ackermann] came in, there have been some changes in their style of play, but their game is still based on some solid fundamentals.”
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Cullen added that they will focus more on their own goals and objectives rather than spending too much time focusing on the Bulls.
“It’s been an amazing squad effort to get to this stage, and it’s great to still be playing at this time of the year.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a great day, but we know what a serious challenge awaits us against a serious team.
“We want to be respectful to the opposition, but we also need to be very focused on ourselves and what makes Leinster great.
“We have great individuals in our team that will potentially play for Leinster for the last time on Friday, so we need to ensure we put in a good performance for all the right reasons.”
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