Leo Cullen says he doesn't expect there to be any on-field confusion with the province's co-captains James Ryan and Garry Ringrose their season.
The pair are among nine Ireland international returning to the Leinster squad for tomorrow's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with the Scarlets at the RDS.
With Johnny Sexton's retirement, the province have had to name a new skipper for the season, and Cullen has taken the unusual approach of naming Ryan and Ringrose as co-captains, a move the Ireland women's team have also taken in recent months where Edel McMahon and Sam Monaghan shared the responsibility for the WXV3 campaign in Dubai.
Scott Penny and Dan Sheehan have led the team in the first four rounds of the URC, but with Ryan and Ringrose both starting the meeting with Llanelli tomorrow, it will be fascinating to see how the role is split between the two, particularly around communication with referee Hollie Davidson.
"Definitely strength in numbers between the two of them in the lead-in to the game in particular, sharing the load," Cullen said at an event for St Michael's House in Ballymun, a charity partner of Leinster Rugby.
And the Leinster coach hinted that while decision-making on the pitch will be a collaborative approach, Ryan will likely be main line of communication between the team and the match officials.
"The way the game unfolds James [Ryan] is closer to the action generally than your 13 would ordinarily be, I think you've seen that over the years.
"Both of them captained the team at different stages last season so they have that pretty close working relationship anyway. It's not a major shift for us.
"I see actually a few teams across the competition have named co-captains as well. I don't know if we’re starting a trend or following a trend, but Bulls and Edinburgh are both the same in terms of naming co-captains I saw from their teams yesterday.
"I definitely think in the modern game and in sharing that load it’s an important piece or, well, we feel it will be a useful piece. All the great teams, if you look back over the years, it’s a shared leadership piece and you’re relying on different guys at different points and the two guys have both been exceptional.
"I think they live and breathe what it is to be a top-end professional player on and off the field. They’re hugely respected within the group and hopefully it will elevate both their games to the next level as well."
Having brought some of their returning Irish internationals back for last week's win against the Dragons, Cullen's side are now close to full-strength for Saturday's game with the Scarlets.
Notably, academy out-half Sam Prendergast (below) is given a first start of the season, having featured three times off the bench earlier in the campaign.
The 20-year-old will make his fifth appearance for the senior team, but it will be his first opportunity to play alongside the province's frontline stars, with Jamison Gibson-Park joining him in the half-backs.
There's a similar situation on the bench, where scrum-half Fintan Gunne is set for his debut as a partner to Ross Byrne.
And Cullen says it's a deliberate strategy to give the Ireland U20 pair some valuable minutes in an experienced lineup.
"There's a bit of both in that, isn't there? You've got the experience of Jamison [Gibson-Park] at nine, Sam [Prendergast] at ten and then on the flipside of that we have the experience of Ross [Byrne] on the bench with Fintan Gunne.
"We're keen to sort of split those guys up and build those combinations in terms of experience and youth.
"We've tried to look at a few things over pre-season and into the early season games and things will settle down as we get through this block of games. But yeah, we're excited to see how the guys go, both starters and off the bench.
"So it's a good blend of experience and youth as well. Sam has started a few games already, Fintan hasn't been involved yet but those guys were good at 20s and we'll see what they're like at this level. It's something that we were keen to try."
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