LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen has hit out at the media coverage of his team following their Champions Cup semi-final win against Toulon.

Cullen said he believes that journalists “love throwing the boot into us” when things go wrong for Leinster.

The Irish province held on to earn their place in the final in Bilbao in Dublin today despite a late comeback effort from Toulon.

There were lots of strong elements in Leinster’s performance, but they endured some stressful moments late on in the game as Toulon threatened to score a late winner.

When Cullen was asked for his view on the game and those thrilling final 10 minutes, he spoke for nearly six minutes about the see-saw nature of the clash with Toulon, as well as taking aim at the media coverage of his team.

Cullen brought up last year’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton, which included a questionable turnover penalty won by Henry Pollock in the closing stages under the Saints’ post, as well as what could have been a penalty try for Leinster when Alex Coles stripped the ball illegally from Josh van der Flier.

Those events came to Cullen’s mind when he discussed the closing stages of Leinster’s win today.

“Naturally, you try and protect things, don’t you?” said Cullen.

“Whereas the other team has nothing to protect, they’re throwing everything at you.

“We were sitting in this room this time last year, we were in that situation where we were throwing everything at Northampton, listen [Henry] Pollock gets a poach and it should have been a penalty, but nobody wants to report about it after.

“We should have had a penalty try and nobody wants to report on it.

“You just want to kick the boot into us, don’t you?

“And that’s the way it goes, you know. The reality is that in a semi-final, there are two teams going at it and there is a winner and loser, and it’s not to kick the team that loses.

“I thought Toulon were amazing to go at it until the very end. And they’re decided on the tightest of margins, semi-finals. You think back to semi-finals, we were away in France in 2012 and Wesley Fofana knocks the ball over the tryline, and that’s how we get to a final, it wasn’t anything that we did.

“But you get to a final and we go on and play Ulster. You keep battling for every single moment.”

Cullen continued to give Toulon further praise as he again underlined his sense that the media are negative about Leinster.

“I would be very kind to Toulon because they showed great spirit to the very end,” said Cullen. “It’s what you want and it’s why we love this tournament. We want to put ourselves in this situation every year.

“But it’s not easy because you’re up against these juggernauts of teams. That’s the first time Leinster have ever beaten Toulon today. We’ll keep battling, we know it will be tough in a final, we’re delighted to get ourselves… I have to applaud the players for the desire throughout the season to want to put themselves back in this situation.

“Because, listen, you guys love throwing the boot into us, don’t you?

“You guys love throwing the boot into us when things don’t go well. Whatever sells, because you read plenty of it.

“You’d love if everyone got behind the team now when you’re up against juggernauts of the game because it is not easy doing it, is it? We’re the only Irish province left in the competition, but the group will still continue to do what we do.

“It’s not always pretty, but we’re up against some serious teams. It’s insanely hard to win this competition.”