Cullen: Internal competition will drive Leinster

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is calling on his players to use tomorrow's meeting with Glasgow Warriors (live on RTÉ1 and RTÉ Player) to drive their own "internal competition", ahead of a busy block of games.

Tomorrow's visit of the Warriors is the first of 10 games in consecutive weeks for the province, with Champions Cup pool games dominating the next two-and-a-half months until the Six Nations.

Cullen is without his frontline internationals this week, those players given a week off after Ireland's Autumn Nations campaign.

However, they have been able to call on a number of first team regulars, with Rónan Kelleher back from injury at hooker, Ross Molony and Joe McCarthy in the second row, and Ross Byrne steering the ship at out-half.

And with a top of the table clash against Ulster to come next week, before Champions Cup meetings with Racing 92 and Gloucester, Cullen wants his players to take advantage of their chance to impress.

"We have a group playing against Glasgow that want to play in the biggest games coming up, they want to be in the European games, they want to be there for the Six Nations," the Leinster coach said.

"Everybody needs to be ready to take the opportunity. Joe McCarthy is back in with us this week, and we have a good competitive group, so it's about them making their time, to make memories individually and collectively.

"Glasgow are a very, very tough opponent that we've struggled with in the past. People will talk about the last time Glasgow came here, but it's a totally different time now. Conditions this time of year are tricky so we need to manage them well on the day, and it'll be a tough battle for us."

Kelleher returns at hooker having been out since September due to a hamstring injury, during