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Ireland

Leinster boss Leo Cullen says La Rochelle game has 'knock-out' feel

“It has that 'knock-out' feel to it," says Leinster boss Leo Cullen. "Winning is important because of the dynamic of the seedings


  • Jan 11 2025
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Leinster boss Leo Cullen says La Rochelle game has 'knock-out' feel
Leinster boss Leo Cullen says

Anxious Leinster have selected a team that looks as if their European ambitions depended on winning at La Rochelle tomorrow.

Then again and given the absurd nature of the Champions Cup current six-team/four match pool set-up, Leinster's Champions Cup ambitions are probably dependent on winning.

Lose here and the Blues' path to final is likely to feature away games from the quarter-finals onwards.

READ MORE: Leinster have won their last two encounters against La Rochelle - ROG isn't the bogeyman anymore

READ MORE: Leinster explain the reasoning behind Harry Byrne's three-month loan to Bristol - and why there are no other loans planned

Signs on the team that supplies the majority of the Ireland Six Nations pack, the international half-backs and centres, has mustered all of those stars front and centre.

There is, though, an interesting 'flip' as Ireland sub Cian Healy starts ahead of Ireland starter Andrew Porter at loose-head albeit the latter is expected to be introduced at half-time or even before; this is a ploy designed to conserve Porter's minutes played.

Ryan Baird
Ryan Baird



Ryan Baird starts at no6, a place where the 25 year-old is currently challenging 33 year-old Tadhg Beirne and 35 year-old Peter O'Mahony in the Ireland set-up - a battle he is expected to win before RWC2025.

La Rochelle, by contrast are beset by injuries and will take the Stade Marcel Deflandre without three of their most influential players centre Jonathan Danty, outstanding place-kicker Isaia West and second-row Nick Skelton - some might say their three 'most' influential operators.

“It has that 'knock-out' feel to it," says Leinster boss Leo Cullen. "Winning is important because of the dynamic of the seedings and the lots of different rewards for it, playing in front of your home supporters, revenue from the gates and so on.

"You think back over the last few seasons, we were lucky to be in front of our own supporters.
We haven’t gone on to win the competition.

"That allowed us to benefit probably from our own support and the financial benefit of being at home as well which allows you to do certain things as the season goes on.

"Last year, we played La Rochelle in the pool phase and won which gives us home advantage when it came to knockout because of the way the paths collided again.

"They had to go to South Africa before they came here for that quarter-final so it disadvantaged them slightly, or maybe significantly, that they’ve had to go through that."

Moreover, Leinster need to win AND have enough left in the tank to face English Premiership leaders at Bath next weekend in the fourth and final pool game.

"We’ve watched La Rochelle play Toulouse at the weekend," continues the Leinster coach. "A lot was made of Toulouse having a rotational team out against them but La Rochelle had a rotational team the week before when they lost to Perpignan so they’ve managed their group.

"Win, lose or draw, we have to be able to turn the page quite quickly, we’ve got a six-day turnaround into Bath.

"It’s hard to talk about the six-day turnaround leading into another game but that is certainly part of the message from us.

"We’ve had different but similar, I guess, constraints or circumstances for the first two Champions Cup games."

That's a specific reference to Leinster players occupying 30 of 40 Ireland forward, half-back and centre shirts available through four November internationals - Andrew Porter, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris started each of the four games.

"Even when you saw our fixture list at the start of the season, you were looking and going ‘Oh, that is going to be a sticky period to get through those two games’ which we’ve managed to come through and, again in December, we had a Sunday game (Bristol) into a Saturday (Clermont) game.

"We were probably a bit flat in the second week after that but what we’ve had is a lot of those international guys who needed time off."

Meanwhile Ronan O'Gara has been intriguingly quiet in the run up to the game revealing the reason as:

"We have won four or our last five games, but you’d think we’d lost four. Brutal stuff. But in any fair appraisal, we must be honest too.

"I went hard on the players for a few weeks, trying to drive standards, but for this group, I went too far, and instead they lost confidence. I need to give them hugs now. Rein myself in.

"Tough love doesn’t work on everybody. I know I’ve just gotten a bit negative there for a while, and I am looking to get back into that good vein of form."

Stade Rochelais: Brice Dulin; Jack Nowell, UJ Seuteni, Jules Favre, Dillyn Leyds; Antoine Hastoy, Tawera Kerr-Barlow; Reda Wardi, Quentin Lespiaucq, Uini Atonio, Thomas Lavault, Kane Douglas, Paul Boudehent, Oscar Jegou, Grégory Alldritt capt

Replacements: Nikoloz Sutidze, Alexandre Kaddouri, Georges-Henri Colombe, Ultan Dillane, Levani Botia, Judicael Cancoriet, Matthias Haddad, Hoani Bosmorin

Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O'Brien; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris capt

Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Andrew Porter, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jordie Barrett

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

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