Leo Cullen's coaching reign at Leinster is, after a somewhat rocky start, heading to toward a kind of iconic status if the start to this season augurs for success by the end. Cullen is at the apex of a remarkably successful organisation, with a production line of talent that is the envy of Europe if not the rest of the world.
Leinster's only problem is the fact that, if anything, the conveyor belt of talent is moving too fast. As a result of that, along with the IRFU's preponderance on Joe Schmidt's selection options at the 2019 World Cup, they have been forced to sacrifice some talent.
Consequently, rival provinces are populated with Leinster Academy graduates: Munster have Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, and Tadhg Beirne in their squad for today's clash with Gloucester while Ulster have fully six Leinster graduates in their matchday squad this weekend.
Elsewhere, it was confirmed this week that scrum-half Nick McCarthy is Munster-bound.
Speaking to the Irish Times ahead of tomorrow's game with Toulouse, Cullen spoke of the difficulty of keeping such a crop of talent happy given limited playing opportunities and then criticised his rivals' furtive attempts to entice Leinster talent.
Even sometimes when they're not starting or on the bench, they feel like there is a plan and a programme in place for them to improve and they enjoy the experience of being here as well. They feel like the club is taking care of them.
So, there's other things that clubs are promising... we're aware of other teams close to here ringing up young players and selling them stories about what they are going to get somewhere else.
We know that that's there, the club is very aware of it and what we can do about it is limited.
Leinster play Toulouse tomorrow afternoon, with kick-off slated for 4pm.
[Irish Times]
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