Leo Cullen happy with co-captains' balance of power

Leo Cullen says he doesn't expect there to be any on-field confusion with the province's co-captains James Ryan and Garry Ringrose their season.

The pair are among nine Ireland international returning to the Leinster squad for tomorrow's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with the Scarlets at the RDS.

With Johnny Sexton's retirement, the province have had to name a new skipper for the season, and Cullen has taken the unusual approach of naming Ryan and Ringrose as co-captains, a move the Ireland women's team have also taken in recent months where Edel McMahon and Sam Monaghan shared the responsibility for the WXV3 campaign in Dubai.

Scott Penny and Dan Sheehan have led the team in the first four rounds of the URC, but with Ryan and Ringrose both starting the meeting with Llanelli tomorrow, it will be fascinating to see how the role is split between the two, particularly around communication with referee Hollie Davidson.

"Definitely strength in numbers between the two of them in the lead-in to the game in particular, sharing the load," Cullen said at an event for St Michael's House in Ballymun, a charity partner of Leinster Rugby.

And the Leinster coach hinted that while decision-making on the pitch will be a collaborative approach, Ryan will likely be main line of communication between the team and the match officials.

"The way the game unfolds James [Ryan] is closer to the action generally than your 13 would ordinarily be, I think you've seen that over the years.

"Both of them captained the team at different stages last season so they have that pretty close working relationship anyway. It's not a major shift for us.

"I see actually a few teams across the competition have named co-captains as well. I don't know if we’re