Cullen and Sexton share thoughts on Champions Cup defeat

An understandably disappointed Leo Cullen admitted that his charges did not do enough in the face of a courageous La Rochelle onslaught to lift the Champions Cup at the Stade Vélodrome yesterday evening. 

La Rochelle clinched the game with a 24-21 score-line after a colossal and exhausting effort in the latter stages. 

Cullen said: 

“You can’t fault the effort. There’s bits in the game we don’t quite execute at different stages. Different parts of our game which put us under a little bit more pressure, undue pressure. 

“That’s what you expect in this type of game anyway. It’s high stakes, high pressure, against a French team, away in France. 

“We know it’s not easy. But there’ll be some good learning, for some of the younger guys in particular, for the future because we’re always desperate to win this tournament, properly desperate. 

“At 18-10 we look like we’re in control, it was a couple of little decisions, the bounce of the ball. It’s fine, fine margins. 

“We’d love to have a crack at it again, but you don’t get those second chances in finals, do you?” 

Captain Johnny Sexton expressed regret at the fact that he played it safe with penalties instead of possibly taking the more adventurous route. 

It was tough to take,” he said. “There were a lot of things that didn’t go our way in the last 30 minutes when we were in control of the game. That’s the devastating bit. 

“We had plenty of chances to score. Maybe we should have been a bit more aggressive and gone for tries on a couple of those penalties. 

“We decided to take the threes and keep the scoreboard ticking over. Hindsight’s a great thing. Everyone’s experts in hindsight. We made the decisions, and we were in control.”