Cullen: Leinster v Munster still 'a huge deal'

Leo Cullen says Leinster's derby with Munster hasn't lost any of its magic, even if his side have dominated the fixture in recent seasons.

Leinster have won 15 of the last 18 meetings between the sides, are heavy favourites to continue that winning run tomorrow at the Aviva Stadium (5.15pm, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), with the visitors hit by a number of key injuries.

A healthy crowd of 40-45,000 people are expected at Lansdowne Road, with the home side including frontline internationals Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Caelan Doris, Johnny Sexton and Garry Ringrose in their line-up.

"There's going to be 45,000 people here tomorrow and when we started off in the old Dooradoyle days there'd be 350 people there," he said.

"It's a huge occasion, the nature of the week-on-week - that's the challenge.

"But I said it after the game [against Connacht] last week, for Irish rugby it has to be a point of difference; the way the provinces are supported, the sense of identity that each provincial team has - and they have their own unique identity.

"It's important we celebrate that, we're expecting a real, physical challenge and that's what we've prepared for this week because we think that's coming from Munster.

"You can see how hotly contested the derby games have been before now, we were a bit fortunate to get out with a win against Connacht last weekend. Parts of our performance were good, other parts we feel like there's a good bit to go and that's what we'll focus on this week."

Peter O'Mahony, Tadhg Beirne and Craig Casey all joined Munster's extensive injury list this week, eight changes made from last week's win against the Bulls.

And Cullen says while he's been aware of the province's injury struggles this week, he hasn't allowed it