'Johnny Sexton is now selling tickets for the game next week'

Leinster boss Leo Cullen has quipped that the unavailable Johnny Sexton has taken on the new role of ticket seller in an effort to ensure a bumper Good Friday attendance returns to the Aviva Stadium for their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final versus Leicester just six days after their sold-out round-of-16 fixture with Ulster. Last year’s beaten finalists managed to eventually win their weather-affected all-Irish battle 30-15 amid a non-stop Dublin deluge.

However, having had 10 weeks since their final pool win over Racing in January to dispose of all 50,000-plus tickets for their derby versus Dan McFarland’s side, the marketing department at Leinster now faces a race against time to attract another massive crowd for last year’s repeat quarter-final clash with the Tigers.

Leinster were 23-14 winners at Welford Road in 2022 on route to their showpiece final disappointment against La Rochelle in Marseille, but they now have a potential four-game knockout stage home run to the title as the 2023 decider is scheduled for the same Aviva Stadium venue that they are now onerously tasked with packing out this coming Friday in the last eight.

“A big thank you to everyone who turned out,” said Cullen after his team’s gritty three tries to two success over Ulster. “Johnny Sexton is now selling tickets for the game next week to try and get a big crowd because we are back here next Friday. I know there is a lot going on, but it would be amazing to have a big crowd here again. He [Sexton] is out in the streets, in the ticket office. Whatever it takes, he said.”

Leinster were unusually low frills in moving past the Ulster resistance but having seen Leicester squeeze past Edinburgh in their round-of-16 tie in similarly miserable weather conditions, Cullen admitted he couldn’t guarantee a more free-flowing spectacle than the forwards-dominated battle that the capacity crowd witnessed in Dublin on Saturday evening.

Asked what he expected in six days’ time, he suggested: “A similar type of game. They [Leicester] will kick a fair bit off nine. They are very organised in terms of their kick chase, so they will try to play that pressurised, squeezed type of game. They played last night [Friday] against Edinburgh in pretty horrific conditions so hopefully it is a slightly drier day and you can see a bit more fluid running rugby from both teams.

“But you saw the way England played here a couple of weeks ago (against Ireland in the Six Nations), that sort of Steve Borthwick template: they are pretty big into their stats in terms of kicking and the kicking metric stats that they use to play that game. And (Richard) Wigglesworth, as an ex-nine and ex-Saracens as well, he understands what it takes to be successful at the top end of the game.

“It’s going to be a good challenge for us. Talking to the lads in the dressing room, it’s all about recovery now and turning the page quite quickly. It’s an unusual dynamic. In the past, you would have a couple of weeks leading into this (quarter-final) game. We played Leicester last season. They have a couple of changes in personal. George Ford is gone but Handre Pollard is there, so they have a ton of experience in their team. It’s going to be a great test.”

Reflecting on the performance that eventually got the jump on Ulster, Cullen added: “Conditions were unbelievably tricky… there was a lottery element to those types of conditions. But the guys prepped well during the week in terms of the plan, and I thought the forwards did a good job laying the platform for the team.

“We are pleased to be through. Ulster put it up to us. After Ryan Baird scored a try, Ulster hit back and even when Jamison (Gibson-Park) scored, they hit back again. Ulster battled away like we knew they would, and it is a strange feeling, a 10-week lead into a game and now you have a six-day turnaround.

“Conditions made it difficult and it wasn’t a great spectacle, a lot of kicking from both teams but that unfortunately was the way it was. With lashing rain, you have got to play the conditions, but we played the game in the right areas generally and that is important, playing down the right end of the field as it is cup rugby. We did get ourselves in trouble a couple of times but overall, we are pleased to get through.”

Cullen had kudos for the impact of the increasing influence of Baird. “He played more in the second row with Ireland, but he played at six and was a great lineout option. You could see how athletic he is in the air with his spring, and he came up with some big moments during the course of the game. The try at the start, big poach turnover at one stage in the second half.”

The only concern for Leinster, aside from asking the sidelined Sexton to up his marketing game and offload a trailer-load of tickets, was the injury that saw Josh van der Flier limp out of the game with 25 minutes remaining. “Josh twisted his ankle. I don’t know the full extent of it. He seemed to be moving okay but he had to come off with it,” Cullen concluded.