Leinster boss Leo Cullen expecting 'whatever it takes' approach from Glasgow Warriors

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says Glasgow will show no fear coming to Dublin as they bid to defend their BKT URC title.

The Warriors famously won the championship last season after beating Munster and Bulls in the semi-final and final, both away from home.

It's not unusual for visiting opposition to put up a token early defence when they come to face Leinster before folding under relentless pressure.

Harlequins and Zebre are examples that stand out in the last two months, while even Glasgow, when they lost their Champions Cup quarter-final 52-0, didn’t appear to have the stomach for a fight on that occasion.

However, there is a sense in camp that Franco Smith’s team, who beat Stormers 36-18 in the quarter-final last weekend, will come with a completely different attitude for tomorrow afternoon’s 2.45pm kick-off at Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ Radio 1).

"They won't be afraid, you saw them at the weekend against Stormers, they have that slogan: 'Whatever it Takes’, so they certainly push the boundaries," Cullen told reporters after naming a starting side with three changes from the quarter-final win over Scarlets.

"The penalty count was [16] to four [against Glasgow].

"[They are] the reigning champions, they won away last year in Limerick in a semi and went away to win a final.

"We know they’ll be hard to handle, tough to play against."

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Flanker Josh van der Flier (hamstring) and full-back Hugo Keenan (calf) both miss out through injury, while Dan Sheehan swaps the starting hooker shirt with Rónan Kelleher.

"Josh went off at the weekend so he’s not back for this weekend. It’s tight. It’s coming a little bit too soon," said Cullen of the changes.

"It’s coming a little bit too soon for Garry [Ringrose, calf], Hugo has picked up a niggle as well, so he’s out.

"We’re back to a 5:3 [bench] split as well, again it's just a little bit around the personnel.

"Tommy [O’Brien] has done well to get back, Hugo we didn’t think was that significant, he trained on Tuesday but then he started to flag.

"At that point Tommy was coming back into training, so we moved Jimmy [O’Brien] to 15 and Tommy in on the wing.

"Tommy has been excellent for the team all year so I don’t think he drops the overall group in anyway.

"With the moving parts at the backs, obviously Josh dropping out as well, we’ve gone back to a 5:3 because Ciarán [Frawley] came on at 15 for Hugo at the weekend, and he can cover 12 and 15, Ross [Byrne] has been excellent all year for us as well."

Conscious of the fact that Munster lost out to Sharks last weekend after a place-kicking shootout, Cullen hinted that the presence of so many kickers on the bench could come in useful for the game, for which there were almost 15,000 tickets sold by early Friday afternoon.

He said: "I don’t know, was the fact that there was a penalty shoot-out in one of the games last week, does that play on our minds as well, stacking the bench with kickers?

"It is a possibility, it is definitely something that needs to be considered.

"Overall Ross has been excellent all year, he’s been unlucky to miss out on some of the games the last few weeks because we’d opted to have a 6:2 split prior to that.

"I think both teams are probably missing a few players, that’s just the nature of the season, we think there is a good group and we’re excited to get going again."

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Watch Leinster v Glasgow from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live commentary on RTE Radio 1