LEO CULLEN WAS happy to see his Leinster side make it two wins from two in the United Rugby Championship this evening, but Stuart Lancaster’s future continued to take much of the focus at the RDS.
Leinster powered to an impressive 42-10 win over Benetton, but earlier on Friday French media reported that Lancaster has now signed a contract with Racing 92 and will join the French side at the end of the current season.
Speaking after tonight’s game, Cullen wouldn’t comment on Lancaster’s future. Lancaster is due to speak to the media on Monday.
Focusing on matters on the pitch, Cullen was happy to see Leinster build on last weekend’s opening round win against Zebre, where Leinster allowed their hosts to claw their way back into the game ahead of a nervy finish. Next up for Leinster is a testing trip to play Ulster.
“Similar sequence to last week, we went 21-0 up in Zebre but there was better consistency over the 80 minutes (tonight),” Cullen said.
There was lots of good intent, there’s parts of our game which still needs work and attention and when you’re working on combinations – we knew it would be tough against Benetton.
“Guys have had a decent start, but they’ll be excited about the trip to Belfast. We lost there last year, it’ll be a ding-dong battle.”
Ciarán Frawley was handed a rare start at out-half and was heavily involved in the opening half, before being removed from the action early in the second period having shipped a bang to the shoulder earlier in the game.
Frawley is due to travel to South Africa on Sunday for the Emerging Ireland squad’s three-game tour.
“Yeah, he seems OK,” Cullen said.
He took a bang on the shoulder, but we’ll see. We’ll get him assessed. It was just before half-time, he was still a bit uncomfortable at the start of the second half, and with Ross [Byrne] there we just made a call.
“Stuart O’Flanagan is our doctor here, and he’s going on the tour, so he’ll be able to make the call.”
Caelan Doris didn’t return to the action after coming off for a HIA in the opening minutes, while James Ryan was pulled from the starting team as a precautionary measure after feeling some tightness in his calf during Thursday’s Captain’s Run.
“Caelan took a knock. That’s one of the fine lines, your first game of the season, he’s gone through OK on his HIA 1, and the doc will make a call there, so he’s made the call which is fine. We’ll see how he goes through HIA 2, and he’ll go through the returns. He’s in the dressing room there OK.”
