LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen says that the speed with which Bordeaux attack was the biggest point of difference between the sides as UBB became back-to-back European champions.
A first-half blitz saw Bordeaux score five tries to Leinster’s one, their 35-7 half-time lead following Yoram Moefana’s interception of a Harry Byrne pass killing any chance of a 2011-style comeback for the eastern province.
Cullen repeatedly praised Bordeaux’s speed and clinicality throughout his post-match press conference, during which he was flanked by Leinster captain Caelan Doris and departing scrum-half Luke McGrath.
The average ruck speed against Leinster this season is four seconds, but Bordeaux were able to easily generate quick ball at the breakdown and cut Leinster to shreds, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey dotting down a brace.
And Cullen said post-match that increasing the speed with which Leinster attack will be part of his mission during the upcoming off-season, with Leinster’s wait for a fifth European Cup having extended into a ninth year.
“It’s things done at speed,” Cullen said of Bordeaux. “That’s probably the bit where we’re noticing: the speed of the way they’re doing things. That’s a mindset that we need to adopt in our league as well.
“Obviously, there’s different variables and challenges and all the rest, but that’s probably the one thing that I would take away from Top 14 right now. Speed, quality, you can see it in squads that every team has built.
“If you remember the start of the season when Toulouse put about 60-odd points on La Rochelle, maybe even 70 points, I remember La Rochelle coming away from that game and they were saying just about the speed and the way Toulouse were playing at that moment in time.
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“Toulouse are top of the Top 14. Listen, you see the way Bordeaux play as well.”
Captain Doris, meanwhile, believes Leinster fell short in the defensive contact area, which allowed Bordeaux to build up a head of steam during their 25-minute first-half exhibition.
“It’s a bit of a cycle that you get into,” Doris explained. “If they get one quick ball, they’re on top of you again and again.
“I mentioned the pace, but they’ve also got a very strong carrying forward back. So, we got stuck in a bit of a negative loop of allowing them quick ball, quick ball, quick ball, and they’re away.”
Doris, however, stressed that he still believes that Jacques Nienaber’s defensive system is the right fit for Leinster, and insisted that his side’s defensive underperformance was an issue of execution as opposed to a failure of Nienaber’s system.
“Absolutely,” Doris replied when asked if he still has faith in Leinster’s current defensive model. “I think we’ve seen what it can do over the last number of seasons when it’s delivered on properly. A key component of that is the tackler area and there’s an individual responsibility there as players.
“I know I had a few which weren’t good enough and I’m sure a few of us are feeling that way. So it’s probably less of a system thing and more of a contact area.”
Cullen, meanwhile, expressed his appreciation for Leinster’s travelling support, and stressed on a couple of occasions that Saturday’s final in Bilbao was a special occasion in which to be involved.
Cullen was frustrated, however, by Leinster’s lack of cutting edge in a game in which they made 11 entries into Bordeaux’s 22′ but scored only three tries — two of them when the game was already dead.
“They (Bordeaux) were insanely clinical in everything that they did in scoring five tries in the first half,” Cullen said. “We scored three tries in the game. We’ve lots of possession during the game, lots of territory during the game, but we’re just nowhere near clinical with what we had. We’ve given away things just a little bit cheaply.
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“So, for the group there, it’s just, yeah, it’s time together, with an understanding of, it’s another game, another final, but we need to learn and push on to next week, because if we’d won or drawn the game, at the end of this, we’d be talking about needing need to turn it back into a quarter-final next week, and we have the opportunity to do that.
“It’s unfortunate the game just got away from us a little bit in the first half.
“There’s lots of great stuff in terms of trying to get back into the game, and we scored a couple of good tries in the second half, and we still left so many opportunities out there.
“But that’s the bit that we all reflect on as players, and we’ll go through what’s caused certain things, but it’s a pressure cooker out there.
“It’s very frustrating because you want to give a better account of yourselves, don’t you, because you want to be with that ruthless mindset in terms of execution, where we’re just not quite there.
“On the flip side of that, how clinical were they? Everything that they did, denied us at lots of different moments, lots of big turnovers, and lots of different runs, so again, they just showed the quality that they probably have been at all year.
“They haven’t had an easy run to the final, beating Bath, Toulouse the Bulls away, so they’ve shown that again at certain stages.”
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Leo Cullen says Leinster have a need for speed if they are to get over the line in Europe
LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen says that the speed with which Bordeaux attack was the biggest point of difference between the sides as UBB became back-to-back European champions.
A first-half blitz saw Bordeaux score five tries to Leinster’s one, their 35-7 half-time lead following Yoram Moefana’s interception of a Harry Byrne pass killing any chance of a 2011-style comeback for the eastern province.
Cullen repeatedly praised Bordeaux’s speed and clinicality throughout his post-match press conference, during which he was flanked by Leinster captain Caelan Doris and departing scrum-half Luke McGrath.
The average ruck speed against Leinster this season is four seconds, but Bordeaux were able to easily generate quick ball at the breakdown and cut Leinster to shreds, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey dotting down a brace.
And Cullen said post-match that increasing the speed with which Leinster attack will be part of his mission during the upcoming off-season, with Leinster’s wait for a fifth European Cup having extended into a ninth year.
“It’s things done at speed,” Cullen said of Bordeaux. “That’s probably the bit where we’re noticing: the speed of the way they’re doing things. That’s a mindset that we need to adopt in our league as well.
“Obviously, there’s different variables and challenges and all the rest, but that’s probably the one thing that I would take away from Top 14 right now. Speed, quality, you can see it in squads that every team has built.
“If you remember the start of the season when Toulouse put about 60-odd points on La Rochelle, maybe even 70 points, I remember La Rochelle coming away from that game and they were saying just about the speed and the way Toulouse were playing at that moment in time.
“Toulouse are top of the Top 14. Listen, you see the way Bordeaux play as well.”
Captain Doris, meanwhile, believes Leinster fell short in the defensive contact area, which allowed Bordeaux to build up a head of steam during their 25-minute first-half exhibition.
“It’s a bit of a cycle that you get into,” Doris explained. “If they get one quick ball, they’re on top of you again and again.
“I mentioned the pace, but they’ve also got a very strong carrying forward back. So, we got stuck in a bit of a negative loop of allowing them quick ball, quick ball, quick ball, and they’re away.”
Doris, however, stressed that he still believes that Jacques Nienaber’s defensive system is the right fit for Leinster, and insisted that his side’s defensive underperformance was an issue of execution as opposed to a failure of Nienaber’s system.
“Absolutely,” Doris replied when asked if he still has faith in Leinster’s current defensive model. “I think we’ve seen what it can do over the last number of seasons when it’s delivered on properly. A key component of that is the tackler area and there’s an individual responsibility there as players.
“I know I had a few which weren’t good enough and I’m sure a few of us are feeling that way. So it’s probably less of a system thing and more of a contact area.”
Cullen, meanwhile, expressed his appreciation for Leinster’s travelling support, and stressed on a couple of occasions that Saturday’s final in Bilbao was a special occasion in which to be involved.
Cullen was frustrated, however, by Leinster’s lack of cutting edge in a game in which they made 11 entries into Bordeaux’s 22′ but scored only three tries — two of them when the game was already dead.
“They (Bordeaux) were insanely clinical in everything that they did in scoring five tries in the first half,” Cullen said. “We scored three tries in the game. We’ve lots of possession during the game, lots of territory during the game, but we’re just nowhere near clinical with what we had. We’ve given away things just a little bit cheaply.
“So, for the group there, it’s just, yeah, it’s time together, with an understanding of, it’s another game, another final, but we need to learn and push on to next week, because if we’d won or drawn the game, at the end of this, we’d be talking about needing need to turn it back into a quarter-final next week, and we have the opportunity to do that.
“It’s unfortunate the game just got away from us a little bit in the first half.
“There’s lots of great stuff in terms of trying to get back into the game, and we scored a couple of good tries in the second half, and we still left so many opportunities out there.
“But that’s the bit that we all reflect on as players, and we’ll go through what’s caused certain things, but it’s a pressure cooker out there.
“It’s very frustrating because you want to give a better account of yourselves, don’t you, because you want to be with that ruthless mindset in terms of execution, where we’re just not quite there.
“On the flip side of that, how clinical were they? Everything that they did, denied us at lots of different moments, lots of big turnovers, and lots of different runs, so again, they just showed the quality that they probably have been at all year.
“They haven’t had an easy run to the final, beating Bath, Toulouse the Bulls away, so they’ve shown that again at certain stages.”
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