Planet Rugby / John O'Sullivan: Saturday was a proud day for the Cullen family as they watched former Leinster and Ireland second row captain Leo lead the Leicester Tigers to a 27-27 draw against the Sale Sharks at Welford Road.
Cullen, in his first season with the Tiger, has already made a big impression despite contesting the second row spot with promising youngster Louis Deacon and England international Ben Kay.
A measure of the esteem in which he is held can be gleaned from the fact he was asked to captain Leicester by coach Pat Howard for such an important game.
The Australian singled him out in his comments last week as one of the three outstanding leaders at the club. The Dublin lock is enjoying his time there and has just bought a house, underlining his commitment to a two-year contract.
No buzz for Irish Wasps
It was a mixed weekend for some of the Irish players in England, with Eoin Reddan and Jeremy Staunton second-half replacements as Wasps were thumped 28-16 at the Recreation Ground. Bath responded to their European mauling by Leinster with a big performance from the pack as they easily outmuscled the London team.
London Irish also celebrated this weekend with a fine 13-9 win away to Gloucester. Once again Bob Casey was a big player, literally and methaphorically, for the Exiles, as was his secondrow partner Nick Kennedy.
It seems the latter, qualified to play for both Ireland and England, is going to opt for the red rose having been called into an extended England A squad.
Blackrock's helping hand
A host of Ireland's national squad players turned up for Bernard Dunne's fight at the weekend. Included in the audience were Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy, Denis Hickie, Shane - not Seán as the MC announced on the night - Horgan and former player and current Leinster video analyst Emmet Farrell.
In fairness to Farrell, who helps out with the coaching of the first team at Blackrock College, anything would be better than reviewing a couple of the club's recent performances in which they were hammered, the honourable exception being Saturday's defeat to Shannon, where they acquitted themselves well.
Reference to Blackrock brings up a nice story about the club extending the hand of friendship to Lansdowne through president Jim Graham. Speaking at a lunch ahead of the recent AIB All-Ireland League fixture between the teams Graham invited Lansdowne to use the Stradbrook facilities when Lansdowne Road is being developed.
It was a nice touch that underlines the bonhomie that can exist between clubs, although what Graham made of the fact that the same afternoon Lansdowne ran up a 70 point-plus total against Blackrock in that game is not to hand.
New sponsor for under-21s
The IRFU has introduced ESB International as sponsor of the Ireland under-21 team's upcoming home games in the Six Nations Championship at Dubarry Park in Athlone. Ireland play Italy, Wales and Scotland at home and all those games take place in Athlone.
The first of those matches takes place on Friday. The Welsh match is down for February 24th and the last match at home will be played on the March 10th against Scotland. The games against Italy and Scotland will be broadcast live on RTÉ television.
Southern discomfort
A couple of Southern Hemisphere referees who will be officiating in the upcoming Six Nations Championship came in for flak following their handling of Premiership matches in England at the weekend. Gloucester coach Dean Ryan, Leeds supremo Phil Davies and Sale's Philip Saint Andre all made their views known publicly.
Ryan didn't hold back in his assessment of South African Test referee Jonathan Kaplan, who took charge of the Gloucester v London Irish match. He referees Scotland and France at Murrayfield next Sunday.
The former England international number eight said: "There were a lot of things we were unhappy with around the field. He's a world-class referee and I would welcome him coming in for six or eight weeks but not for one game.
"We all know the Premiership is unique, just as the Super-14 is unique and the Tri-Nations is unique, but the laws are interpreted differently around the world and it's unfair on us to deal with that in a one-off game."
Davies was unhappy over a time-keeping issue in his team's game against Northampton. The controversy in Northampton was over the length of the game, with the fourth official informing the timekeeper there should be six minutes of injury-time, not the eight that ultimately transpired.
Had the length of time added on been reduced by the two minutes, Leeds would have finished with a draw and an extra point.
Saint Andre could be in trouble for his remarks about New Zealand's Paul Honiss in the wake of his side's 27-27 draw against the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.
The Frenchman had a word of warning for Wales when they travel to Twickenham next Saturday, a game at which the New Zealand official will be in charge. "Perhaps he is a referee who prefers the home side."
Competition time
Life just couldn't get any better for readers of this column. We are giving away a two-night stay at the Mount Herbert Hotel (two nights bed and breakfast, one dinner) courtesy of John Loughran, the owner, complete with two stand tickets for Ireland's opening game in this season's Six Nations Championship against Italy at Lansdowne Road next Saturday.
The winner will be able to avail of the two-night stay on the weekend of the match and tickets to go and see the game. The hotel is situated 200 yards from the ground. To enter just e-mail the answer to the following question to michelles@mountherberthotel.ie.
Q. Who coaches the Italian national side?
Entries close at 2pm tomorrow
