Leo Cullen is happy to continue with Garry Ringrose and James Ryan as Leinster co-captains despite a run-in with the referee in last weekend's Investec Champions Cup win over La Rochelle.
The Ireland internationals were named as skippers last month with the vacancy having arisen following Johnny Sexton’s retirement.
Matthew Carley oversaw a feisty round-one clash between the back-to-back champions and beaten finalists in Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Sunday, with players from both sides repeatedly appealing for decisions and talking to the official.
In particular, Carley lost his patience with lock Ryan in the first half and informed him that he would just deal with Ringrose from then on.
"Hopefully it was a once off," said Cullen when asked if there was an argument for naming one captain on match day.
"There was so much going on in that game, wasn’t there?
"You could see that people were getting frustrated. James just happened to be the funnel at the time.
"He is the one who is going to the referee with some of that information, whether that’s coming from other players or somewhere else.
"That is the way I saw it playing out. Going back to the values of the game, we have to have respect for the officials and let them do their job but at certain times you have to be able to point things out.
"Trying to get the right sweet spot there is always the challenge, isn’t it, the art of captaincy really.
"There was so much going on in that game which we were frustrated with across the board as you can imagine; I am sure you have seen some of the footage.
"We will talk to our co-captains every week about that sort of interaction, yeah.
"So, it's understandable why he's frustrated and it's trying to get that message across.
"But we want to be able to communicate with the referees in an effective manner.
"I think the referee said he'd prefer to talk to Garry at that moment in time so that's also fine as well."
Today’s visitors Sale arrive on the back of a 28-5 win over Stade Francais and have made a host of changes to their starting team.
Cullen has made four changes and revealed that Will Connors, a stand-out in the 16-9 win in France, was ill at the start of the week and Josh van der Flier comes in as one of four changes.
Out-half Ciarán Frawley starts with Ross Byrne and Harry Byrne on the injury list.
"That's the thing, he's played a tonne of games for us now," said Cullen of the 26-year-old, who kicked nine points against La Rochelle, including a penalty with his first involvement of the game as a replacement, and a monster kick at the death to seal the victory.
"He's a very rounded player and hopefully he brings the array of skills that he has in his own way to playing 10 now.
"He has a strong kicking game, a strong running game and a strong passing game as well; he is your triple-threat type of player and hopefully we see that."
On his nerveless execution in the lashing rain when replacing Byrne in the 39th minute, Cullen referenced, Sexton’s famous introduction as a substitute for Felipe Contepomi in the 2009 semi-final win over Munster at Croke Park when he kicked a penalty with his first touch of the ball.
"You saw it before with a young 24-year-old stepping in at Croke Park," he said with a smile.
"He cleared [the crossbar with the last penalty] with a bit to spare, it was a pretty phenomenal kick. I am not sure it was a 100-metre pitch but it was unbelievably impressive."
On what to expect from the Premiership leaders, Cullen reckoned the breakdown would be important.
He said: "The way that Sale will set up their game, which will be a strong kicking game. In the wider channels, I think they will go very aggressively at those breakdowns.
"[It’s] how we deal with some of that threat coming at us. It is a free shot for them really. They will get a lot of energy off that, which is the big part.
"They kick, high contestables, catching the ball, how we deal with that contact area and if they come up with poaches it gives them that level of energy, you’ll see that hollering.
"It’s important that we don’t give them that life in the game."
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