Leo Cullen is reasonably optimistic that Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose will be back in the selection mix as Leinster seek to win their first trophy in four seasons when they face the Bulls in the URC final at Croke Park next Saturday (kick-off 5pm).
The Lions duo missed last Saturday’s convincing 37-19 semi-final win over last season’s champions Glasgow Warriors at the Aviva Stadium due to hamstring and knee issues.
“Josh will be top of the list, I’d say,” said Cullen with regard to the list of players ruled out of the semi-final, with Ringrose “up near the top” according to the Leinster head coach.
By contrast, the other missing Lions, Hugo Keenan and Tadhg Furlong, were both “somewhere in the middle”, whereas “Will Connors and Brian Deeney [are] definitely at the bottom. Robbie [Henshaw] is down near the bottom as well. There’s probably a pecking order there. Garry and Josh [are] probably the two favourites.”
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Despite the unfavourable kick-off time, an attendance of 15,762 was an improvement on the previous week – just that it was a little lost in the Aviva Stadium, whereas had the game been in the RDS it would have been more of an occasion.
As the seasons have finished later in recent years, June has been a challenging month for ticket sales but, encouragingly, the first tranche of 12,000 tickets for next Saturday’s heavyweight rumble with the Bulls have already been snapped up by Leinster’s season ticket holders.
The 10 per cent early bird discount which enabled supporters to register for a 24-hour presale window expired at 9am on Monday, before general sale from 10am, with ticket prices starting at €20.
Leinster secured home advantage by topping the regular-season table, with the Bulls in second place, thus leading to the first-ever final at the home of the GAA and Ireland’s most iconic sporting arena. The game will be broadcast live on TG4 and on Premier Sports.
Captaining the side on the season’s run-in, Jack Conan admitted it would be “unbelievably special” to win the URC at Croke Park.
“I think we’ve relished every opportunity to run out there in the last few years, starting with Northampton last year and Munster and Harlequins this year, so the history and the iconic nature of that stadium isn’t lost on us. We want to do right by that and be at our best again.”
By dint of topping the table by eight points ahead of the Bulls, Cullen was grateful that he and his squad have a final in Dublin and do not have to travel to take the long trek to South Africa, as was the case when the sides met in last season’s semi-final.
“You’re sitting in the dressingroom in Loftus and heading back to the bloody hotel,” he recalled. “It’s the end of the season, watch that Glasgow-Munster game. What do you do? It’s grim, beyond belief.
“What can we control now? We’ll control having a really good week and enjoying it.
“I’ve been lucky to be involved in Leinster and other teams for a long time and there are so many great days, but you it’s not like you cling to those days where you won a trophy, it’s the day-to-day that I love.
“I love the process of getting ready for a game; that’s what excites me. I love getting out of bed in the morning and coming into work ... because it’s not work.
“So, we’ll give our best and when next week is over and we’re dealing with the fallout, good, bad or indifferent, it’s over. What can we control now? We can get excited about next week and that’s what I love.
“I love the process, I love the people we work with. There was a good few family in the dressing-room, it’s magic. Win, lose or draw, we deal with the consequences.”
