Leinster boss Cullen challenges 'instinctive' Gabriel to seize opportunity at 10

LEO CULLEN HAS challenged 20-year-old Caspar Gabriel to seize his opportunity when he makes his first competitive Leinster start at out-half against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Austrian-born playmaker, who now qualifies to represent Ireland, has impressed Cullen during pre-season. “Like all our young players, he’s getting there,” said Cullen. “None of them are there yet. It’s such a pivotal position on the field.

“He’s an incredibly skillful young man, and he’s tough as well. Hopefully you see that in his performance and he goes out and is himself and plays the game the way he sees it because he’s a great talent.

“URC is his level at the moment and hopefully he can start the game and take the game by the scruff of the neck and impose himself on the game and bring other people into the game around him as well.

“He’ll definitely bring his own slants to the game. He’s a very instinctive player, but he’s learning to be part of the team all the time, and he’s developing. We all need to be patient with young players, because no-one’s going to be perfect when they step into this type of professional arena.”

Andrew Porter is fully fit again and starts at tighthead, with Cullen keen to explore the Ireland international’s versatility again.

“Tadhg Furlong and Thomas Clarkson are our two senior tightheads, Ports has played there in the past,” said the head coach. “Ports is a pretty phenomenal individual. He moved back to playing loosehead, and has done that incredibly well.

Advertisement

“We’ve prepped it over the last few weeks. Do we see him playing there for the rest of the season? No, not necessarily.”

Todd Lawlor makes his debut at full-back, while Dylan McNeice is also in line for his first cap off the bench. McNeice offers cover at second row and back row and Cullen is excited by his athleticism.

McNeice spent time as a transition-year student in Johannesburg at St Stithians and was wearing a Galway jersey when Leinster were playing in the city.

“I remember walking across to this young kid, and it turns out it was Dylan,” grinned Cullen. “He was out here for five weeks, I believe, and now he is here in a Leinster 23 back in Johannesburg.

“He’s clearly a focused young man, and you saw that with some of his Under-20s performances last year. He was a little unlucky because he broke his hand during the World Cup.

“He has a nice profile, good athletic profile, good mover for a big man, so it’s one for the future for sure.”

Caelan Doris remains Leinster captain despite recovering from surgery. Cullen confirmed he will not feature in the current block and admitted there is still no definite return date, with a November return not a certainty by any means.

“He won’t be playing for us in this period, so in and around November or beyond,” said Cullen. “I had originally thought he would play for us in this first block of the season, but I think that’s just been pushed out. Exactly how far, I’m not sure.”

Cullen is hopeful Leinster have learned the lessons of 12 months ago, when they lost 35-0 to the Stormers and 39-31 to the Bulls in their opening couple of games.

“If you remember, we were sitting under the stands in Croke Park after round four, we’d lost three of the first four, so we clearly didn’t get things right and you need to acknowledge that,” he said.

“The big thing is the cohesion of the group. Time away together is fantastic. Just having nine academy players with the international crew, everyone’s mixing together and getting to know each other.

“Every day the familiarity is better in terms of time spent training together, and even for the international gang, it’s a pre-season for them in many respects, but it’s at altitude.

“There are so many positives to having the group together. We’ll battle away for every single point we can in the two games, but it’s also for when we get back together.

“I remember watching footage of a crew back in UCD last year, and it felt very disjointed at the time. So we tried to make some corrections, and hopefully it’ll serve us better for the course of the season.”