LONG READ Cullen’s bunker mindset may be double-edged sword as Leinster try to become ‘supermen for a day’

Let’s face it, Leinster are going to have to come up with a tale of the unexpected to beat Bordeaux in the Champions Cup final this weekend. The French side are the favourites and for good reason. They are the complete team.

For Leinster it must be like trying to plot their way around a vast monolith, only one that can also move at the speed of sound.

In club rugby terms it is a challenge which must feel like it borders on the impossible if you spend too long thinking about it.

For Leinster – after three final defeats in succession and then last year’s harrowing semi-final exit to Northampton – it feels like there is almost an inevitability that more disappointment is on the way.

Psychologically, their task is somehow to confront and overcome this fatalism and find a head space that enables them to become supermen for a day.

That is no easy trick. But maybe it explains the unexpected outburst from Leo Cullen that followed Leinster’s progression through to this final.

Normally straight-batted in his media dealings, the province’s long-serving director of rugby danced down the track and opened his shoulders at the assembled scribes after Leinster’s semi-final victory over Toulon.

‘You guys love throwing the boot at us, don’t you? You guys love throwing the boot in when things don’t go well. Whatever sells… you read plenty of it. The courage the players showed… it is a testament.”

The aggressive rhetoric was most un-Cullen-like. There was more. Scrolling back 12 months to the defeat by the Saints, he accused the media of wilfully closing their eyes to a gross miscarriage of justice.

“We were throwing everything at Northampton. (Henry) Pollock gets a poach – it should have been a penalty. It’s clearly illegal but no-one wants to report about it after. We should have had a penalty-try and nobody wants to report about it. You just want to kick the boot into us, don’t you?”

It can help players to feel more motivated to perform at their best, as they feel they are fighting for a common cause or against a perceived injustice.

‘Nobody likes us, we don’t care’ does not seem very Leinster, but circling the wagons has worked for unfancied sports teams before.

In his new book ‘On The Record and On The Ball’, England’s communications lead Tim Percival looks into the subject of siege mentality.

“The term derives from the military,” sports psychologist Jeremy Snape tells him. “Some coaches use it as a motivational tool to unite their team and create a sense of ‘us against the world’. This can involve creating a perception that the team is being unfairly targeted by, in many cases, the media.

“The objective is to try to instil a sense of solidarity amongst the team – which can help to build a strong team connection. It can also help players to feel more motivated to perform at their best, as they feel they are fighting for a common cause or against a perceived injustice.”

Snape, a former international cricketer, briefly worked with the England team under Eddie Jones – a fully paid-up member of the media dark arts fan club.

When he was with England, Jones relished creating an agenda – where quite often none existed – to close the ranks within the squad ahead of an important game.

Before the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, he asked a packed pre-match press conference in Tokyo how many of those assembled thought England had a chance of winning.

Before any of the media had a chance to raise an arm, he announced the straw poll closed and the votes cast in favour, none.

No doubt the result of this cleverly rigged poll found its way back to the players. ‘It’s us against the world, boys’.

By establishing a common enemy, you give the team something to unite around, creating a shared purpose and cause to support. It can be an incredibly effective tool.

Cullen also went down this path in his post-semi-final diatribe, hinting at an anti-Leinster sentiment at the other Irish provinces. “You would love everyone to get behind the team now,” he said, pointedly.

In a sense he would, but in the same breath maybe he wouldn’t. A camp with barbed wire up around it focuses energy inwards.

“When you portray yourself as a victim in a situation, and you have the loyalty of your dressing room, it strengthens the bond,” sports psychologist Andrea Furst – another to have worked with the England team – tells Percival in the book.

“By establishing a common enemy, you give the team something to unite around, creating a shared purpose and cause to support. It can be an incredibly effective tool.”

Sir Alex Ferguson, when he was Manchester United manager, would convince his players that despite their success, everything from the refereeing to the fixture scheduling was conspiring against them.

Cullen appears to have taken a leaf out of Fergie’s book here. But it is not a risk-free approach for Cullen.

He is already under personal pressure given the past failures to get over the line. That may seem harsh after 19 semi-final appearances including 12 finals – so far – in Europe and the URC in his 11 seasons in charge, but expectations are rightly high when a coach has more than half the Ireland team and superstar overseas signings at his disposal.

In taking on the media in particular, he is poking the bear. He has ensured he will have it coming if Leinster suffer another near-miss.

There is also the effect on his players to consider, warns Snape.

“It can be a double-edged sword,” he says. “‘Us v them’ can lead to a sense of paranoia in the playing group and can potentially be counter-productive in the long run. It can also make players overly sensitive or defensive to the media.”

Will the bunker mindset work? Cold logic says no but the mind can be a powerful tool.

The short term is all that matters here to Cullen. But not every coach would be comfortable going in the direction he has. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend tells Percival that siege mentality is a last-resort option.

“It would only be a strategy to go to if the other strategies haven’t worked, but I prefer not to go there. I’d prefer to sell positivity rather than say the world is against us,” says Townsend.

The truth is though that Leinster have tried everything else in recent years and it hasn’t worked when it comes to taking the final step in Europe.

In changing the mood music ahead of Bilbao, Cullen has shaken things up.

Will the bunker mindset work? Cold logic says no but the mind can be a powerful tool. When faced with a side of Bordeaux’s quality, anything is worth a try.