Sitting 10th in league, Leinster have ‘hell of a lot of work to do’, Leo Cullen admits

Leo Cullen believes it is an ideal time in the season for experimentation after naming Dan Sheehan at number eight in his Leinster team to face arch rivals Munster in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship game at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 6pm).Ordinarily in competition with Rónan Kelleher for the starting hooker spot in the Leinster and Ireland sides, both players will instead be part of the same scrum this weekend. The Leinster head coach’s decision to select Sheehan alongside Ryan Baird and Josh van der Flier in the backrow is partly brought about because of an injury sustained by Jack Conan in last Saturday’s Champions Cup win at Clermont Auvergne and the continued absence of club captain Caelan Doris.While Max Deegan and James Culhane have also donned the number eight jersey for Leinster on numerous occasions, Cullen has named Sheehan at the base of the scrum, with Gus McCarthy providing frontrow cover for Kelleher among the replacements. Sheehan had previously featured in the backrow during the latter stages of at least one game and Cullen is confident he can fill the position from the word go on Saturday.READ MORE“We’ve tried it a little bit last season. Jack obviously dislocated his shoulder at the weekend, so he’s going to have an op on that. That’s the first bit. We’re blessed with Rónan and Dan, and even with Gus McCarthy and Stevie Smyth there as well coming through. It’s very early in the season still, so it’s worthwhile us trying some things,” Cullen said.“Rónan starts [at hooker]. He’s played for the Lions, played for Ireland multiple times and then Dan on the team as well. We’ve been discussing it for quite some time at the back of last season and there was an opportunity to try it this weekend.“He’ll find himself in a similar situation defensively where he would normally be, because the twos and the eights can be quite similar in terms of where they defend. So that role is not going to change drastically for them.”Although it was known at the beginning of the week that Conan was going to be ruled out of contention for Munster’s visit to the Aviva, there have been some fresh worries for Cullen coming into this weekend’s tussle.After picking up hamstring and wrist injuries respectively, both Garry Ringrose and Sam Prendergast will be marked absent, with Jamie Osborne and Joey Carbery taking over from them at outside centre and outhalf respectively.It remains to be seen if this will cast doubt over their availability for Ireland’s Nations Championship Northern Hemisphere Series opener against Argentina on November 6th – Cullen was uncertain of how long either player might be sidelined for – but Leinster will have to persevere without their services for the time being.A win on Saturday over Clayton McMillan’s side will help Leinster to climb up the URC rankings as the province find themselves occupying 10th spot in the championship table at present.Sam Prendergast played a starring role in Leinster's bonus-point win over Clermont, but misses Munster game through injury. Photograph: Ben Brady/INPHO Yet when you consider Leinster were without the majority of their international contingent, a haul of three points from away encounters with the Lions and the Sharks in South Africa was commendable, and they followed up these games by claiming a bonus-point victory over Cardiff in the revamped Laya Arena.Last weekend also saw them securing an impressive 48-23 pool stage triumph over Clermont. And Cullen feels the main objective coming into Saturday’s fixture is to keep enhancing the level of their performance.“It’s just as long as we keep that trajectory of trying to keep improving as a group,” he said.“We’re sitting down in 10th in the league, so we know we’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do now and to get ourselves up the table. We need to be ready. We’ve tried to prepare well this week.“It’s a great rivalry, great occasion, and I believe there will be a huge crowd there as well. Which is fantastic and what we all want. We’ve tried to build on the first game in the Laya Arena and we just need to try and keep improving the performances.”LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O’Brien; Joey Carbery, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Dan Sheehan (captain).Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Alex Usanov, Thomas Clarkson, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, Scott Penny, Fintan Gunne, Caspar Gabriel, Charlie Tector.MUNSTER: Ben O’Connor; Shay McCarthy, Seán O’Brien, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Charlie O’Shea, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Marnus van der Merwe, Kieran Brookes; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (captain); Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.Replacements: Max Clein, Mark Donnelly, Michael Ala’alatoa, Seán Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, Ben O’Donovan, JJ Hanrahan, Gordon Wood.