Leo Cullen says Leinster has a logistical challenge trying to get to South Africa for a blockbuster clash against the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Irish giants brushed aside Ulster in Dublin last week to punch their tickets to the Republic, where Cullen’s charges will tackle a high-flying Bulls outfit in the semi-finals of the Vodacom URC at Loftus Versfeld this week.
Should Munster beat the Glasgow Warriors in Limerick the defending champions will host next week’s final at Thomond Park. If Glasgow win, the winners between the Bulls and Leinster earn the right to host the showpiece.
Speaking to the media post-match at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Cullen explained how he must navigate a complex travel plan for his squad. “It’s a very unusual dynamic,” the head coach said. “I don’t want to bore you about the dynamics of how airlines do or don’t operate on the weekend, but there are multiple moving parts.
“I don’t know if you’ve booked many trips for 45 people on a Saturday night? If anyone has any advice?
“I don’t know [when we leave], the bags are packed. We’ll be setting sail alright. Maybe we’ll go on a boat!
“It depends what’s available. It’s very at this time of the year, the middle of June, to travel at the best of times so it’s a little small 45-person working party. We will get out there by whatever means possible.”
Despite the Bulls missing key players like Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Marco van Staden, Cullen is wary of the challenge ahead.
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“I only saw a little bit of that Bulls game earlier on but you’ve seen them over the course of the tournament,” he noted. “Munster had a good win over there, Glasgow had a good battle with them, Benetton played them a few weeks ago as well recently enough so we’ve seen a few of those games.
“They’re a good team over there and it will be a great challenge. Whatever group does travel, we owe it to ourselves to put in a performance.
“Nobody’s going to give us anything, are they? We need to deliver a big performance for ourselves, it’s not about owing anybody.
“It’s owing the people who have done so much work over the course of the season. It’s for the fans.”
Cullen praised his team’s resilience following their 43-20 win over Ulster: “There’s plenty of character in the group. You don’t get into these knockout games by accident.
“There’s the players that are on the field, the players that have contributed to get us to this point… you have to juggle the resources across the season to still be able to fire at this point of the season.
“Overall, the health of the squad is in decent shape and that requires… you think back to round one, we started against Glasgow who had all of their internationals back after the World Cup whereas we didn’t have anybody.
“There’s lots of different dynamics, that’s the beauty of the competition.
“How you navigate your way through… we’d love to have a home semi-final, but this is the challenge and the next adventure that we have which is a trip to South Africa.”
Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
