'He's done a lot of good stuff in the Six Nations' - Cullen excited for Kelleher return

AHEAD OF HIS potential return to provincial duty against Glasgow Warriors tomorrow (kick-off 5.30pm), Leinster head coach Leo Cullen expressed his hope that Rónan Kelleher can maintain the strong form he displayed for Ireland during this year’s Six Nations.

While he only started once during the spring international window – a fourth round victory over Wales at the Aviva Stadium on 6 March – Kelleher saw game time in all five fixtures Ireland played in the 2026 edition of the Championship. His impact was substantial in a campaign that saw Ireland claiming a fourth Triple Crown in the space of five years, with his 97.4% tackle success rate (according to the official Six Nations website) only being usurped by Mirco Spagnolo (Italy), Grant Gilchrist (Scotland) and Jean-Baptiste Gros (France).

His work at the lineout also caught the eye with Ireland winning 28 of his 30 set-piece deliveries during the tournament. The 28-year-old hooker was one of a number of players from Andy Farrell’s international squad to be pictured at Leinster training earlier this week, raising the prospect he will feature in the eastern province’s United Rugby Championship clash with table-toppers Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium this weekend.

“He’s a very strong collision winner, Rónan. On both sides of the ball. From a defensive point of view, he stops guys dead as well by making tackles. Rónan is very, very good in terms of seeing pictures, but also in terms of dominating some of those contacts,” Cullen remarked earlier this week.

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“I thought you saw him carrying quite a bit as well playing in the Wales game. Wales, they had to make a lot of tackles that day. Ireland were carrying a lot at them and Rónan I thought was very effective in terms of his footwork and his strength in the contact area.

“When he was carrying and his strength in the carry. He has done a lot of really good stuff in the Six Nations. Hopefully we see that form continue on for the remainder of the season.”

For each of his four appearances as a replacement for Ireland in the Six Nations, Kelleher took over from Dan Sheehan in the front-row. Even though he wasn’t involved in the aforementioned Wales encounter, it was also a productive Championship for the latter as he scored tries in victories over England and Scotland.

There is also an intense battle for the number two spot between Sheehan and Kelleher at Leinster with both players starting their share of big games for the Blues. Having two experienced internationals vying for the same position can leave coaches with a significant headache but, as Cullen points out, this has been the case right across the Leinster front-row for a number of years.

“We’ve probably seen similar examples of that over the years. Whether Cian [Healy] and Andrew Porter as two looseheads as an example. Even Andrew Porter was initially tighthead, so him and Tadhg [Furlong] would have been fulfilling that similar type of job,” Cullen added.

“Cian Healy and Jack McGrath, two international players again, would have been fighting it out for a number of years. Internationally and provincially. I think it’s important to look at the 80 minutes of a game as well.

“I think people can get a little bit fixated on the starting 15, but if you look at the 80 minutes of a game, the fresh impact that a player can bring. He can nearly be more important than the guy that starts the game.

“It’s incredible to see the two of them [Sheehan and Kelleher], how they’ve pushed each other on to be proper top end world class internationals. Sometimes that competition is a good thing because there is no way Dan can be complacent. Because he knows he has Rónan there, ready to push on and vice versa. I think it’s very, very healthy for the two of them.”