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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Won't get shocked again - previous turnarounds on Leo Cullen's mind as Leinster go to Gloucester

Leo Cullen played in one shocking Euro back to back turnaround with Leinster - and doesn't want to preside over another at Kingsholm today.

It was in December 2013 when the Blues went to Franklin's Gardens and, inspired by Brian O'Driscoll and a Luke Fitzgerald hat-trick, they put 40 points on Northampton Saints.

A week later, however, the Saints came to the Aviva Stadium and turned the tables with a gritty 18-9 victory, leaving Cullen and co gobsmacked.

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It isn't strictly the same scenario this time around as Leinster destroyed a weakened Gloucester team 57-0 at the RDS before Christmas, but it the sides' first outing in Europe since then and Cullen knows that it will be a different story in front of the passionate Shed crowd at Kingsholm.

"If you look back at the history of the competition and the swings over those back to back games," he said.

"I know it's back to back games with domestic action squeezed in between but there's been some very contrasting score lines in these back to back fixtures and we don't want to be one of those stats again.

"I know talking to some of the Gloucester coaches, they're aware of what we do and are very clued in. They've a few guys in the backroom team, Dan Tobin and Tommy Turner who are ex-Leinster, so they have a bit of inside knowledge.

"There's always a danger in that."

Cullen and Stuart Lancaster were among the Leinster coaching party that travelled to Kingsholm to watch Gloucester take on Saracens last week and so have an idea of what is awaiting the four-time tournament winners this lunchtime.

"We expect something totally different," acknowledged the province's head coach.

"Gloucester sent a weakened team to Dublin, so it's a totally different set of players this week. It's a totally different proposition.

"All of the things we spoke of in the lead-up to our last game still apply.

"Gloucester are a very proud club and proud team, and are well coached with strong fundamentals. It will be a very tough game for our guys.

"Kingsholm, the shed, the atmosphere, you get a flavour for it, and it was a proper full-blooded game against Saracens, real nip-and-tuck sort of game.

"Gloucester have strong fundamentals, they kick a lot from nine and chase hard, they're hard to break down defensively."

But so Leinster, who have added a steely edge to a game that continues to yield buckets of tries.

The Blues have been slow out of the blocks at times over the last few weeks but, impressively, managed to turn it around against Ulster, Munster and, last week, at Ospreys in a tough encounter that could prove to be a good rehearsal for this week.

"We'd love to start quickly and get some early scores to get into the game, but that's not always how it happens," reflected Cullen.

"You've got to be able to play the game the way it plays out. Definitely we will be aiming to start the game better than we did last week against Ospreys.

"But the team have matured quite a bit I think in recent times so being able to deal with different setbacks, whether that's on the scoreboard or like in the Ulster game a couple of weeks ago when Cian (Healy) gets red carded.

"We had to play for 60 minutes with 14 players, the team is adding layers of experience all the time, whether that's with Leinster or with Ireland.

"We've just got to be able to deal with the occasion and ideally we start well but if we don't, we have to just come up with Plan B."

Victory for Leinster would consolidate their position at the top of the seeding chart going into the final round of pool games, so the incentive is there to maintain that 100% winning record across the season to date.

"There are lots of sub-plots going on all across the weekend and next weekend there will be even more, all the calculators will be out," Cullen smiled.

"It's an early start, so hopefully we'll be able to rip into it nice and early."

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