This is becoming a thing: another Thursday afternoon, another Zoom call at Leinster HQ and another Leo Cullen state-of-the-province address.Seven days earlier and in the week following their latest Champions Cup final defeat, Cullen said he remained the right man to guide Leinster, whereas this latest briefing focused largely on senior coach Jacques Nienaber and the bombshell remarks the South African made to print journalists in the same building three days earlier.Nienaber, who has a year left on his contract, expressed hope that he would stay beyond the end of the season, but then claimed that was not valued in his role, and that pressure from the public and media would ultimately cost him his job.Cullen, however, appears confident the 53-year-old will remain in place and, while addressing the issue, defended the coaching structure responsible for delivering Leinster’s game plan.“There has been evolution year on year,” the head coach said. “You’ve got to be able to deliver the plan, who is delivering messages and when, and then deliver team performance. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that. It’s a collaborative process.“There’s a sense that people want to pick holes in us at the moment. I’m not sure why, but we’ve got ourselves to a final [in Europe], so we’re clearly doing well. We’re constantly trying to improve. Next week, win, lose or draw, we’ll have a proper deep dive into how we want to evolve our game and that direction of travel.”Cullen said that little tweaks were made from week to week. “It’s not like you’re going to throw it all out based on one performance,” he said. “That’s not realistic to do because it would be too confusing for the players, so you need some level of consistency.“We have made drastic changes, particularly when you think of bringing different coaches into the building because they offer different skill sets. We’ve always been naturally inquisitive about how the top teams do things.“How do South Africa go into World Cups, as an example? Jacques has played a very significant role in that, from what I’ve seen, in terms of the system, but also from talking to people who worked closely with those involved.“We’re incredibly lucky to have him here. He’s a genius in terms of what he does. In his own mind, I think he is fully committed to Leinster, so please don’t get confused by that. I would be of the same mind.Rónan Kelleher has been named in place of the injured Dan Sheehan for Saturday's Stormers game. Photograph: Grace Halton/INPHO “The group loves working with him as well. I know they do. When Stu [Lancaster] left to take on the role with Racing and become a head coach again, everybody understood his reasons at the time.“It was a significant step, but we think these things through in terms of what it will look like. We lived our way through that, but I still think it’s amazing for the playing group to experience something different.“I still think, in terms of what I said last week, attacking the game on both sides of the ball – attacking when we have it, which is the Leinster way, but also attacking when we don’t have it. That’s maybe slightly different, but the players love that aggressive mindset.“No better man to deliver that.”Following the disappointment of a lacklustre first-half display against Bordeaux Bègles that decided the Champions Cup final, Leinster produced the sort of performance Cullen is looking for in last Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) quarter-final win over the Lions.The opposition barely mustered a challenge, however, and the Stormers – who made the trip on Monday from Cape Town to Dublin – are likely to provide a sterner examination at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening with a place in the URC final at stake.Cullen has made three changes to his side. Jamison Gibson-Park replaces Luke McGrath at scrumhalf, Josh van der Flier returns at openside in place of Scott Penny and Rónan Kelleher comes in for the injured Dan Sheehan. However, Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw were ruled out through injury.“We have picked up a few niggles and knocks, but the flip side is some guys are back with a bit of freshness,” Cullen said. “The Stormers are a serious outfit and we have to be crystal clear on what’s required.”LEINSTER (v Stormers): Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Alex Usanov, Rabah Slimani, Diarmuid Mangan, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Garry Ringrose.