‘You need fresh energy this time of the year’ – Leo Cullen ready to welcome back key trio as Leinster run up a score against Ospreys

And, while he accepted the performance in their nine-try 61-14 victory over the Ospreys at the RDS was far from perfect, especially before half time, the Leinster coach hailed the influence of a cohort of returning players as they prepare to add Garry Ringrose, James Ryan and Hugo Keenan back in the coming weeks.

All three could be back in time for next weekend’s penultimate URC regular season game against Ulster in what would be a major boost ahead of the Champions Cup final a week later.

Will Connors was withdrawn before the game as a precaution, but Cullen says he too is expected to be available next week.

And, with Jimmy O’Brien starring against the Ospreys and Charlie Ngatai and Tommy O’Brien impressing off the bench, the coach is happy with where his squad are at.

"Lots of good stuff in the game, we started well, got ourselves into a bit of trouble with some of our own exits, so there's still parts of that first half we can definitely be better,” he said.

“I though the intent, particularly with all of the bench guys coming on, was excellent, playing right to the end.

"Who knows, all you can do is try and control your own part, so that was important for us to push on when we had a bit of an advantage there in the second half.

“Credit to the bench guys, I thought they had a lot of good energy. Tommy O'Brien coming back in, he's been out for a while.

"Jimmy O'Brien, wo started, I know he came back in last week, but for a first start there was lots of good stuff from him. Hopefully we'll have a few guys back next week as well from an injury point of view.

“You need that fresh energy this time of year, we need to rely on the squad to get us to where we want to get to in two competitions. It was a positive outing for us in the end, there were parts in the first half that need to be looked at, but if you'd offered us this at the start of the game we'd have been very happy, yes.

“Ospreys are a dogged team and make life difficult, you could see that in the first half. Again, we just needed to keep a decent tempo in the game and there would probably be some rewards maybe later on in the game, which was pleasing.”

O’Brien scored the opening try and put in a big shift to win the man of the match award on his first start since December.

"That's the thing, some of the lads have timed their run nicely,” he said.

"Even Charlie Ngatai coming off the bench as well, I know he played in South Africa, but back here at the RDS it was nice to have someone of that calibre and quality back in the mix. Lots of guys went well over the course of the game.

"I have to give the staff a lot of credit in terms of how they managed the group.

"After this week we'll have a pretty good profile in terms of injury. You're always going to pick up the odd thing here and there, of course, but the staff have worked away hard over the course of the season, trying to manage guys effectively.

“You need it, we have two URC Interpros with a Champions Cup final sandwiched in between. It's an unusual schedule, but they're proper full-on games. That's the next three weeks and then beyond that...as in we know we have these three games and then there's quarter-final, semi-final and final of the URC then after that.

“It's great, this is where we want to be, and it's making sure we can do everything we possibly can.

"It's not just on the field; training-wise, in terms of some of the knowledge that we can accumulate during the course of any given week, outside of that how everyone recovers and looks after themselves.

"Hopefully we can give the best account of ourselves when it comes down to all the gamedays we have left.”

The coaches will hone in on a patchy period of the first half when Leinster, having raced into a 14-0 lead, switched off and made a series of unforced errors.

"Yeah definitely, because in the bigger games you don’t get away with it,” Cullen said.

"You see it all the time. It is delivering on the basics and you score. How do you go about applying pressure again.

"Everyone talks about the pressure in big games, but it is in the game how do you apply pressure on the opposition.

"We coughed the ball up in front of our posts which leads to a scrum under the sticks and then you are under pressure.

"Then the other team comes into it. We give away a yellow card and a penalty try, so again we are putting pressure on ourselves. It is just making sure that we execute on the next moment in the game.”