‘Spineless and spiteful’ Leo Cullen slammed for Ciaran Frawley call as Leinster boss addresses controversial selection
Leinster playmaker Ciaran Frawley and head coach Leo Cullen.
Leinster and Leo Cullen felt the full force of the supporters’ ire after they named their team for the United Rugby Championship quarter-final.
The Irish province named a strong side for the knockout clash on Saturday, but Ciaran Frawley was dropped from the 23.
Frawley was arguably their best performer when he came onto the field in the second half of their heavy 41-19 defeat to Bordeaux-Begles last weekend.
Nor started at fly-half this season
Given that performance, many expected the Connacht-bound playmaker to start at 10, a shirt he hasn’t been handed all season, but Cullen and the coaches decided to leave him out of the squad entirely.
That left supporters both stunned and angry with one person writing on X, formerly Twitter: “A manager’s job is to pick the best players for the team. Frawley was the standout player for Leinster last week and to not even to have him in the 23 is both spineless and spiteful.”
Under Leinster’s social media post where the team was named, fans were just as vociferous.
“Frawley was our best player last weekend and should be first name on the team sheet this week. This just isn’t acceptable,” one person responded, while another added: “Just comes across as spiteful towards Frawley, made the coaches look like clowns, quick, drop him!!!”
That controversial selection decision was unsurprisingly put to Cullen in his press conference after he decided to pick Sam Prendergast at fly-half for the URC quarter-final and have Harry Byrne, who started in Bilbao, on the bench.
Sam Prendergast ‘super talented’
“It’s always a balance and we’re lucky with the guys that we have there. Sam, as you know, he’s a super talented young man and we want to keep giving the guy opportunities. I think you’ve seen it,” the Leinster boss said.
“He already, even though he’s 23 years of age, has multiple Irish caps under his belt so it’s not just us as coaches here who think that the guy has unbelievable amount of potential. It’s the Irish coaches as well. So, we all want to see him progress.
“We need to keep giving him these opportunities. It’s a great opportunity for him this week. He’s been unlucky in terms of missing out in selection last week.
“So, again, that freshness, it’s fresh energy in the group. It’s hugely important. But it’s over now to Sam and the rest of the players that are picked this weekend and we want to make sure we go and get behind them.
“Whatever team gets picked in any week, we get behind the group and we give them every single chance to fire and be as good as they can possibly be. So, Sam gets an opportunity this week.”
READ MORE: United Rugby Championship quarter-finals: Predictions, teams, kick-off times, TV and more
