Leo Cullen sings praises of 'fantastic natural leader' in Leinster camp
It's six wins out of six for the Blues in the URC and that is in no small part down to the choice of captain
Leo Cullen’s first-up announcement that Caelan Doris would be taking the 2024/25 captaincy at Leinster didn’t come as too much of a surprise. Last season’s dual captaincy, James Ryan and Garry Ringrose, floundered for a number of differing reasons.
Looking backwards there were issues with James Ryan’s form and his primacy of second-row tenure was being challenged by Joe McCarthy’s spectacular breakthrough; looking forward Leinster has signed RG Snyman.
The unfortunate Ringrose season was hampered by injury. The centre played eight times for Leinster last season, seven pre-Six Nations and only one thereafter.
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Moreover there were referees (who you can bet had discussed this behind-the-scenes) informing Leinster shortly after kick-off and on TV mic they could have as many co-captains as they wanted on the pitch...
But only one had permission to talk to the referee during the game. Decide now, which one please?
Perhaps most of all, last season’s dual captaincy failed to win a trophy.
The promotion of Doris has simplified matters as his form is such that he will never be dropped, he tends to be injury-free, and he is an excellent communicator when it comes to officials.
The win/loss column reflects a good decision too, Leinster are six wins from six and the club looks incredibly stable on and off the pitch.
"Caelan has been fantastic,” says Cullen easily. "Reflecting back on last season and how it unfolded, particularly that last block when James and Garry were both out, Caelan really stepped to the fore for us, off the back of some big performances that he has had for Ireland.
"He is making great progress as a leader. He is very curious, naturally, works on all aspects of his game, and has a very positive influence on the group as well.”
And then, albeit he has only started three of the six games (Benetton, Munster, Lions), there is the idea he is playing so well with a number of observers wondering if this is a Lions 2025 captain in the making.
"I have to say he has been excellent. You can see it in his performances, he is enjoying it," adds the Leinster coach of a player who has scored a try in each of his three appearances and was Man of the Match in two:
"He is bringing everyone with him as well, which is good to see and he's still very young, so there's plenty of room for growth there also.
"We had James (Ryan) in the coaching box with us for this game with Lions. James has been great as well. We are growing the group, we will need to rely on a big group because there are so many moving parts to the season.”
Leinster’s next fixture isn’t until November 29th, a lengthy break by any standards, and against Ulster in Belfast ahead of their opening Champions Cup couplet against Bristol (Dec 8, Ashton Gate) and Clermont (Dec 14, Aviva).
“Obviously the Ulster game in round seven is still a month away so we have a bit of time to try and get ready for that with the group that we have.
"We will obviously take a bit of a break, we will come at the start of the week for a review and take a bit of a break then and reflect.
"There are some things we are not quite happy with, even from what we are seeing in training – there are lots of things we can get better at. Nobody is losing the run of themselves, I don't think.
"A bit of reflection time, we will invest in a lot of the younger guys. We have a good mix of experienced guys there as well.”
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