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'To say there's an image of medication being handed out willy-nilly, that's a very unfair reflection'

Leo Cullen and Brian O'Driscoll after winning PRO12 title in 2014. (Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images)

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has been drawn into the debate over the use of painkillers in rugby, after his former Leinster and Ireland team mate Brian O’Driscoll said they were commonplace during his playing days.

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Cullen won three Heineken Cups as captain of Leinster alongside O’Driscoll, in 2009, 2011 and 2012. Both players retired from the game in 2014 after lifting the PRO12 title with the Irish province.

“I was never a big fan, and even to this day, I’m not a big fan of taking medication,” Cullen said. “That’s not to say I haven’t taken an anti-inflammatory.

“Rugby as a game, it’s a physical contact sport. With that comes inflammation. What would you take to get rid of inflammation? It would be an anti-inflammatory, probably.

“There’s a certain part of the professional game that has supplementation or whatever that is, in terms of different types of legal medication.

Cullen took over as head coach in 2015 and he led Leinster to the Champions Cup and PRO14 double success last season.

“To say there’s an image of medication being handed out willy-nilly, I think that’s a very unfair reflection on the environment we have here at the moment.

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“And that’s all I’m really concerned about, I’m not interested in dragging up things from the past. That would be my view.”

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Watch: Leo Cullen on Lancaster rumours, Bath and facing Cokanasiga

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O’Driscoll was discussing the International Rugby Players’ survey during an appearance on Irish podcast Off The Ball.

“I’d have been part of teams where the doctor would have walked down the bus on the way to games inquiring who wanted what in advance [of kick-off],” O’Driscoll said.

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“For me, for the last couple of seasons, part of my match prep would have been a Difene and couple of co-codamol. In the Leinster and Irish set-ups you could get your hands on Difene.

“You got to fight your case a bit more now, and prove their necessity. Drug cabinets that might have been open once upon a time are very much shut and inaccessible.

“It used to be for sleepers as well. Diazepam [valium] to try and counteract what would happen with the caffeine [tablets] because they couldn’t sleep. I’m not saying it was the culture but it happened.”

O’Driscoll said that using painkillers would add to his confidence before matches if he was carrying an injury.

“Just a painkiller if I was carrying something. You know what? It almost became like habit, where it gave me a fighting chance if I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent that it might have levelled it up.

“I wouldn’t have been the only one doing that. It was usually the older players, just to get you to balance the equilibrium, almost of feeling okay.

“I’m sure at times in my subconscious I would have taken it where maybe I could have done without it. If it is perfectly legal, there is no need for TUEs [Therapeutic Use Exemptions], give yourself a chance of playing your best game.

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Natashajason 49 minutes ago
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RedWarriors 1 hour ago
Why Glasgow won't be starstruck by 'arguably the best club team in the world'

I am really looking forward to this. We have seen Glasgow’s quality in Toulon, if that was a home match Glasgow were winning. Glasgow will play in Dublin as if in Glasgow. If Leinster get ahead they cannot allow Glasgow chances like they did Northhampton last year. That will be fatal against Glasgow.

Smith is just repeating what others are saying but this constant talk of ‘greatest club team in the world’ etc is just a symptom of the click bait on line news need for sensationalism. We can only compare with NH teams. Toulouse’s demolition on Leicester is head and shoulders the best performance this year. They earned all those line breaks and the conversion rate from line breaks was 60%. They had only 20 line breaks against Leicester but incredibly scored 12 tries. Leinster had 27 line breaks against Quins and scored 10, which is 37%.

You can see that Leinster may have to have more line breaks than Toulouse in the ratio of about 3:2 to achieve parity as Toulouse are a lot more efficient in converting. This may be achievable without Dupont. Its down to teh day, and Leinster will have to beat a big big gun on a fianl day to be crowned best in Europe, assuming the get past a brilliant Glasgow team.

For the reasons above if Leinster beat Glasgow and Toulouse are beaten in Toulon then its hard to see beyond Leinster outscoring and limiting all other remaining teams.

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