Leo Cullen loving the new challenges in the URC

Leinster boss Leo Cullen is in high spirits after his side’s commanding victory over the Sharks in Dublin on Saturday evening. The result propels Leinster to number one spot on the overall standings with four wins from as many outings.  

It was a relatively close affair until the latter part of the second stanza when Leinster, under astute leadership and skill of captain and flyhalf Johnny Sexton, powered their way to the final whistle with the score at 54-34. 

“We had attacking intent – that’s the way you want to play the game, isn’t it? That’s what the crowd want to come and see, so hopefully people got value for money from the contest and you lot will be writing your pieces over the next few days about coming to the Aviva for Leinster’s next game because they want to entertain the supporters. The game, I think, had pretty much everything in it. I think that’s what the crowd want to see – all-action performances.” 

The next game Cullen is referring to will take the formidable shape of Leinster vs Munster, which takes place on 22 October. 

Cullen expressed positivity with regard to the physical contest which was the Sharks match. 

“It’s great to see this type of test now,” he said. “[There are] a lot of Springboks sitting back in Durban getting ready for a game against Glasgow next week. It’s a proper competition, a proper test. They have to go through Europe now as well, which they didn’t have to do last year.  

  “If you think back to the start of the season last year, they were coming up to Europe and not going particularly well. Every trip they do, they are getting better and better, the familiarity. We only do one trip going down to South Africa, so it’s a different experience for the South African teams coming up here. They get better with the trips. 

“When you’re in South Africa, it’s the number one game in terms of where does rugby sits as a team sport when you compare it to soccer, Gaelic football and hurling, whereas it’s one, two, three and four down there. They live and breathe it. You can see some of the size profile, the speed profile, the skill, jackallers over the ball, some of the front-rowers that they have – it’s a proper challenge.” 

Cullen was also encouraged by his team’s identification of space on the pitch. 

“I think some of the scanning, in terms of where the space is, we knew their wingers would play pretty high. A couple of lovely cross-field kicks from Johnny into Garry’s hands, obviously, Robbie’s kick into Garry’s hands for a try, Charlie’s kick into Robbie’s hands for a try, Cormac’s pass over the top for Rob Russell’s try, so the identifying spaces was good across the board.” 

In terms of injuries, Leinster’s victory came at a cost, with Rhys Ruddock, Ryan Baird and Luke McGrath having to depart proceedings after head knocks while Jordan Lamour rolled his ankle.