Leo Cullen watched his side start the New Year in most convincing fashion, scoring ten tries in a dominating and facile victory over Zebre at the RDS on Friday night.
And as the Leinster coach starts to look forward to the upcoming, season-defining period in the Champions Cup, Cullen took the time to look back at the last 12 months to see how far his team have progressed since this time last year.
Back in January 2016, Cullen, in his first year as head coach of the club where he spent the majority of his playing career, had little to play for as his side were already mathematically out of the elite European competition.
But twelve months on, Cullen has really grown into the role of head coach and there is a real sense of pride as he has watched several young players break through into his first team, while also being rewarded with international honours.
And despite having nothing to play for in their European group clash against Bath last January, Cullen pin-points the encounter as a defining factor for the progress his side has shown over the last year.
“It’s great to be back playing these big games in Europe,” said Cullen after the Zebre game, talking to RTÉ Sport’s Michael Corcoran.
“If you think back to this time last year, we played a game here against Bath, where a lot of young guys got an opportunity to play in Europe for the first time.
“You are saw that four or five of those guys actually got capped for Ireland during the November internationals, and the experience that they have gained since this time last year and the impact that they are having on the group is really, really positive.
“So we’re in a better place in that we are actually in the shake-up for qualifying, while this time last year it was a very, very different picture."
And now Cullen will look to players like James Tracy, Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose and Luke McGrath to put that experience to great use in Friday night’s clash with Montpellier in what coach Cullen describes as a “big week” for the club.
“It’s a huge challenge for us,” said Cullen, who admitted that his side were second best, at times, in the reverse fixture, which the French side won 22-16 back in October.
“We struggled against Montpellier over in France for big chunks of the game so we’ll have a look back at that game and also see what has happened in between, and [work on] the areas where we could be a little bit better, because it’s going to be a tough challenge.
“Montpellier are a well-coached team with a lot of resources as they are heavily backed but it’s good to get through tonight [beating Zebre 70-6 on Friday], get a win and build a bit of confidence again.
“The quality that Montpellier have in their team. They have 30-odd international-quality players in their squad, so they are one of the biggest teams that I have encountered in the game.”
And the coach also acknowledged that his squad has been difficult to manage over the busy festive period, where The Blues had to play three games over Christmas and the New Year.
“This period that we’ve just had, playing three games in 11 days, has been very difficult to manage for the group of players.
“It’s going to be a huge physical challenge [against Montpellier] for us so it’s important the guys rest up well and take care of themselves as it’s going to be a big week for the club.
“But it’s quite a simple permutation, if we win, there is a good chance that we get into the quarter-finals.”
Cullen was also pleased with returning out-half Jonathan Sexton’s contribution, kicking six-from-six in his first match back from injury, however, there is a slight concern over the fitness of Sean Cronin who came off with a hamstring strain.
“It was great to see,” said Cullen on Sexton’s return. “It was a good solid 55 minutes for Johnny. He did a lot of good things out there and led the team well.
“[Cronin] was just reaching for a ball, so we’ll get an update on him. He might just have a bit of a grab in his hamstring, so we’ll get that scanned over the weekend and see how bad that is.”
You can listen to live commentary of Leinster v Montpellier in Pool 4 of the ECC on Friday on RTÉ 2FM, kick-off 7.45pm
