Province gets Champions Cup campaign under way in France on Saturday

Leo Cullen has participated in all 10 European matches between Leinster and Clermont Auvergne – first as a player, then as head coach. A remarkable statistic.

His involvement dates back to Leinster’s first away win on French soil in what was then the European Cup 24 years ago, a 23-20 succession against Montferrand, a former iteration of the Clermont club before a name change in 2004.

Matt Williams was Leinster head coach, Denis Hickie and Gordon D’Arcy scored tries, and scrumhalf Brian O’Meara kicked 13 points. The night before the game, former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey gave a little spiel before presenting the jerseys to the team, having travelled at Williams’ behest.

Plucking another encounter from the memory bank, Cullen recalled “an unbelievable epic battle” in the 2012 Heineken Cup semi-final.

“Wesley Fofana [Clermont centre] dropped the ball over the line at the end, and we all thought he’d scored. And then the [replay] came up on the TV and we thought, ‘Bloody hell,’ because it goes from you thought you’d lost the game to, ‘okay we still have a chance now, let’s deal with the exit.’”

After giving away a free at a scrum, Leinster were left “scrambling around our own try line at the end,” said Cullen, but they held out for a 19-15 win.

Also among the “seriously tough battles” between the sides, he pointed to the Champions Cup semi-final in 2017. On that occasion, Leinster lost 27-22 in Lyons, where this season’s Champions Cup decider will be played.

“It’s a great rivalry, great fans. I think about that semi-final in Lyons, just how yellow the ground was on the way in. And even coming out afterwards, there was a respectful arrival, no animosity there.”

Cullen said there has always been a rapport and respect between the two sets of supporters, adding the clubs share a history. Joe Schmidt was an assistant coach at Clermont when they came up against Leinster in Europe prior to him becoming head coach of the province, while players like Nathan Hines and, more recently, Rabah Slimani have donned both jerseys.

Cullen also recalled Clermont beating Leinster over successive weekends in the pool stages in December 2012, first at the Stade Marcel Michelin and then the Aviva Stadium. The results forced the province into the Challenge Cup, which they subsequently went on to win.

There are a few alterations to the rules governing this season’s Champions Cup, including a change to the try-scoring bonus point. Teams now must score at least three tries more than their opponents in order to earn an attacking bonus point, whereas they could previously pick up an extra point by scoring four tries, irrespective of the end result.

The rule has been in place in other tournaments for some time, including the Top 14. Asked about its potential impact on the Champions Cup, Cullen said: “It’s a good question, but there’s definitely a lot more jeopardy for longer in games where the bonus-point structure has come in.

“Watching Top 14 games, it is a more exciting last 10 or 15 minutes because some games can fizzle out. When a team has scored four tries and the other has scored one, it can fizzle out, and a team might come back and score a couple of tries and there’s no actual consequence from it.

“A team that is trying to stay three or four tries in front, you’re encouraged to keep playing and the game continues with much greater competitiveness to the end.

“If it totally blows out, it’ll totally blow out but generally speaking it’s a better system for the fan. This is the first time we’ll be experiencing it but it’s a good little tweak.”

While it may not dissuade clubs from fielding weaker teams, it’s a positive move. “It creates more competition for longer in a game,” Cullen added. “Scoring four tries, you go into cruise control and get the job done.

“You see less games like that in the Top 14, with the way the bonus-point system works, so we’ll see how it plays out in the Champions Cup.”

The Leinster, Munster and Connacht teams for their respective Champions Cup clashes against Clermont, Racing 92 and Saracens will be announced at midday on Friday, as will Ulster’s side for their Challenge Cup opener against Zebre.