HEINEKEN CUP SARACENS v LEINSTER:LEO CULLEN begins the Fergus McFadden interview for us: "So, talk us through the try at the weekend. . ." Cullen confirmed his availability for Leinster against Saracens at Wembley on Saturday but McFadden is in the familiar role of waiting until the 11th hour to see if Brian O'Driscoll recovers from a hamstring injury.
The 24-year-old has carved out a respectable niche these past few seasons, savagely feeding off the leftover scraps when acting as understudy to both O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy.
He has also cleverly added a combination of the Irish centre pairings’ best traits.
“I’m used to it at this stage because Darce and Drico tend to have knocks a lot of the time,” said McFadden, speaking yesterday at the launch of the National Awards to Volunteers in Irish Sport.
“I came in on Monday knowing Brian was hurt but he has made some miraculous recoveries in the past so I am not going to take anything for granted.”
This is a familiar routine.
“Particularly Darce. We tend to call him Lazarus as he seems to come back from the dead the whole time. In that Munster match, when he got that whack off Mafi, I was half wondering if he would be able to play again but he got back up and was jumping around like a gazelle.
“Him and Brian have had a lot of knocks and seem to recover very well from them; between hamstrings, quads and Darce’s arm. Myself and Eoin (O’Malley) tend to be waiting in the tramlines to see what happens at times so you are better off going about your business as normal.”
The bottleneck of quality centres at Leinster forced Kyle Tonetti to take up a contract with the Sale Sharks last summer but McFadden seems content to bide his time.
“After January or February, I will start to wonder what I’m going to do at the end of the year, if Leinster is going to be where my future or what’s going to happen. I’ll see how the year goes.”
The Joe Schmidt factor at least ensures his progress will not stagnate. Clermont Auvergne’s brilliant winger Aurélien Rougerie recently described their development under Schmidt in glowing terms. The Kiwi informed the Leinster players in pre-season that he wants them to become the best passing back line in Europe.
“You could see in the match against Racing that things were starting to glue together. It’s exciting. He’s definitely got a different mindset to Cheiks.”
December will provide back-to-back opportunities for them to measure themselves against Schmidt’s previous work.
“You could see that from the move (Clermont) did against Saracens,” McFadden continued. “Morgan Parra power flicked the ball to Brock James and he threw it to (Marius) Joubert and then he threw this unbelievable pass for (Julien) Malzieu to score in the corner. You can see what he brought to their game.
“If Joe can add that string to our bow it will make us better, because we have got players who can do lots of different things, special things that other players might not be able to do.”
Cullen, it turns out, has been carrying the same shoulder problem since his school days. Ironically, it has been most troublesome these past two years, coinciding with the best form of his career.
“That’s the weird thing, it’s something you can hide,” said the Leinster captain. “With a shoulder you can carry on, even if it could be hanging off you – you can still run around. It’s grand when it’s in, as long as it’s not out (of the socket).”
Not too many men would adopt a similar attitude to one of their limbs.
In Cullen’s absence, the lineout responsibilities have fallen largely on Devin Toner’s shoulders, what with Malcolm O’Kelly’s retirement and Ed O’Donoghue’s knee injury.
“Absolutely. Our front five came in for a lot of criticism within the squad internally after the Edinburgh game in particular. We were pretty poor in fairness. We didn’t really front up physically and that was the thing more so than anything else.
“Dev has been in and around the squad for a long time now and I think there is definitely a big emphasis on him to step up and play a more prominent role, be a dominant figure, and he’s willing to do it. Over the past couple of weeks he had really led the forwards.”
Cullen’s old friend Bob Casey has been a useful port of call this week as the Leinster think-tank attempt to analyse the Saracens lineout, which is the realm of former England captain Steve Borthwick. “Yeah, (Borthwick’s) a clever guy. He runs a good lineout. He is very experienced – he has been around a long time. He has his fair share of critics as well but he has survived the test of time.”
With three operations since 2003, Cullen could be describing his own path to Wembley this weekend.
Saracens trio sign deals
ENGLAND prospects Brad Barritt, Alex Goode and Andy Saull have agreed new three-year contracts with Saracens. All three have represented England Saxons and played full roles in Saracens’ march to the Aviva Premiership final last season.
Centre Barritt is 24 while Goode and flanker Saull are 22. “Each of these youngsters will play a massive role in the future of our club and hopefully in the future of England as well,” said Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter. “They have committed their futures to us because they believe there’s something special happening at Saracens and they want to be part of it.”
