The current iteration of the Investec Champions Cup has its detractors, but Leo Cullen certainly isn't one of them.
Cullen's Leinster side begin their latest quest for a fifth Champions Cup title this weekend, with Harlequins the visitors to Aviva Stadium on Saturday night.
The province have just one pool stage defeat on their record since 2018, and that even comes with an asterisk considering they never played the game, after they were forced to give Montpellier a walkover due to a Covid-19 outbreak in 2021.
The early rounds of this competition have become a complete formality for the bigger sides, and this season appears to be more of the same; this weekend’s opponents Harlequins travel to Dublin with a weakened side, choosing to rest several frontliners including Marcus Smith, Fin Baxter and Chandler Cunningham-South.
But Cullen (below) insists whoever lifts the trophy in Bilbao next May won't have had an easy ride.
"Listen, just get excited about this tournament again," the Leinster boss said, after naming his team for Saturday’s Pool 3 clash.
"We've been so close on so many occasions, and we still have the same love for the tournament. And we'll do everything we possibly can to try and progress through to the knockout stages and be in the best possible position come the knockout stages as well.
"This tournament is magic. I know it's easy to pick holes in certain things, but if you look across, it's an unbelievable tournament.
"I can only just speak positively. I know there's debates about formats and we can all get bogged down.
"I know to win this tournament, you have to knock off some serious bloody teams. And there's teams out there, every team, every year, there's someone else coming out, emerging out of the pack, like Bordeaux last year."
Cullen is without some key players of his own, with Andrew Porter, James Lowe and Robbie Henshaw all carrying minor knocks, and Hugo Keenan, Jamie Osborne and Ryan Baird out for the longer term, as well as James Ryan, who is serving the second game of his suspension after his red card for Ireland against South Africa.
But the province have still been able to field a full starting team of internationals, 14 of them Irish, plus Springbok lock RG Snyman.
On the bench, they will also unleash new signing Rieko Ioane (below), with the 88-cap All Black set for his debut.
"He's been great, really good. He's an unbelievably diligent professional," Cullen said of Ioane’s first week in camp.
"That's the thing you notice about him straight away, he moves incredibly well from an athletic profile point of view. It's always a challenge, trying to get the group back together this week.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing him play now."
Ioane’s signing caused a stir when it was announced, after he had been the pantomime villain in a couple of Ireland v New Zealand games, while he had a very public spat with former Leinster and Ireland captain after the 2023 World Cup.
But the Leinster boss says his new signing is far from a 'joker’.
"We need to take him seriously as a player, first and foremost, and as a great competitor.
"He's still 28 years of age. So he's still incredibly young and he's a point to prove. He just talks about his motivations for wanting to come here and challenge himself.
"We don't have a whole lot of players that are wanting to do sabbaticals all around the world. So you want to get characters in that are a little bit different.
"So Rieko’s definitely a bit different, but he's a great competitor. He wants to progress his own career.
"And he wants to try and challenge himself in the northern hemisphere and grow as a player. But he's serious about his work.
"So hopefully, as everyone comes to watch the games over the next weeks and months, that's what they'll see.
"But yeah, the players need to work hard to integrate them into the group. But yeah, it's been a good few days this week," Cullen added.
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