FOLLOWING WHAT is expected to be the first of many outings for his player as a team captain at the Aviva Stadium in the coming weeks, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said on Saturday that Caelan Doris is “making great progress as a leader”.

Having acted as a stand-in for previous incumbents James Ryan and Garry Ringrose on a number of occasions towards the tail end of last season, Doris was named Leinster captain in advance of their 2024-25 campaign.

After previously bagging tries as skipper in United Rugby Championship victories over Benetton and Munster, the Mayo native did likewise in their 24-6 win over Emirates Lions in the Aviva on Saturday and also came away with a player of the match award on the night.

This game took place just three days after Doris was announced as Ireland’s captain ahead of their four-game Autumn Nations Series at the same venue in November.

He has already led out his country on a couple of occasions in 2024, but Cullen will now look on with interest as his reliable back-row becomes the international skipper in an official capacity.

“He has been fantastic. Reflecting as the season unfolded last year, particularly that last block when James and Garry were both out, Caelan really stepped to the fore for us off the back of some big performances that he has had for Ireland. Listen, he is making great progress as a leader,” Cullen remarked in the aftermath of Saturday’s game.

“He is very curious, naturally. Works on all aspects of his game, has a very positive influence on the group as well. He has been excellent, I have to say. You can see it in his performances, he is enjoying it. He is bringing everybody with him as well I think, which is good to see.

“He’s still very young as well, so there’s plenty of room for growth there also. We had James in the [coaches] box with us today. James has been great as well. We are growing the group. We will need to rely on a big group because there are so many moving parts to a season.”

While they fell short in their quest for a sixth consecutive bonus point triumph, Saturday’s game nevertheless saw Leinster opening up a six-point lead over defending champions Glasgow Warriors at the summit of the URC.

This competition will now take an extended break with Leinster not set to be in league action again until their visit to Ulster and Kingspan Stadium on Friday, 29 November — a game that will be held the night before Ireland’s final autumn test against Australia in the Aviva.

Although the senior side won’t be in competitive action until then, a number of those who will remain within the Leinster squad — including training panellists, 20 players from the province will be part of the Irish camp next month — could well feature in an ‘A’ interprovincial series that is set to take place in the next few weeks.

“We will obviously take a bit of a break. We will come in at the start of the week and review. Take a bit of a break then and reflect. There are some things we know we are not quite happy with, even from what we are seeing in training. There are lots of things we can get better at. Nobody is losing the run of themselves, I don’t think,” Cullen added.

“A bit of reflection time, we will invest in a lot of the younger guys. We have a good mix of experienced guys there as well. Obviously, the Ulster game in round seven is still a month away, so we have a bit of time to try and get ready for that with the group that we have. We have competitive Interpro ‘A’ games. I’m not sure if everyone actually knows that.

“It will be a proper competitive Interpro. Points table, trophy at the end of it. We play Connacht away in Creggs on the Saturday [16 November] and then we play Munster on the Friday after that in Terenure. For the group that we have, listen it’s an ‘A’ game, but we will try and make it senior-ish. I think that is important.”

Daire Walsh