AFTER 80 MINUTES of rugby which brought big hits, a couple of controversial incidents and plenty of high-quality attacking play, Leo Cullen was delighted to see his team walk off the pitch with a commanding 47-14 win over the Bulls in their pocket.
It hadn’t always looked like the night would be so comfortable for the hosts, Leinster finding themselves in a real battle at the scrum across the early stages and trailing 14-12 at half-time.
However the home side were utterly ruthless after the break, scoring five second-half tries on their way to an impressive 33-point victory.
The wins means Leinster now sit nine points clear of the Bulls at the top of the URC table as the province turn their attention to next weekend’s Champions Cup knockout date with Leicester Tigers at Aviva Stadium.
“It was a proper arm-wrestle at the start,” said Cullen.
“Bulls, very physical team, took us on at the scrum, they won a couple of scrum penalties at the start. It was pleasing how we responded to that though, we were able to drive them off their ball and suddenly we changed that picture, which you have to be able to do. I thought the guys adapted to that well.
“There’s the try in the corner, and we lose Lukey [McGrath] to the bin and for that 10 minutes.
“How we started the second half was probably pleasing. We wanted to get some guys on pretty early and they added good impacts straight away. That was good. It had a bit of everything, we rode our luck a little bit towards the end.
“Overall, it’s a great win for us. Bulls have been going well and have a lot of quality and picked a very strong team.
“You could see them at different stages, how different they are, in lots of ways. They have a lot of power, a strong kicking game and a good bit of speed as well. When you see when they catch you on the break, they’re very dangerous and some of the individuals they have, the ability to step and you’ve seen them at international level as well. They have some serious quality.
“To get a win, when you play first and second, you’re trying to maximise the points. To get five for us and none for them, that’s perfect. We’re pleased with the outcome.”
Cullen added that Luke McGrath does not appear to be a major injury concern after being forced off for a HIA.
The Leinster scrum-half left the action towards the end of the first-half after a head-on-head collision with Kurt-Lee Arendse as the Bulls winger ran in a try. The tackle also saw McGrath yellow-carded on TMO review.
“There was a bit of everything in that,” said Cullen.
“I thought there was a block missed earlier, where [Marcell] Coetzee checks Josh [van der Flier], and that leads to the linebreak. You’re always looking to see the first thing first.
“I’ll have a look back at the incident. The main thing is making sure Lukey is alright at the moment for us.
“He seems OK, again you go through graduated return to play, similar with Robbie [Henshaw] as well. There’s no point me commenting too much on it.
“We’ll just get them through graduated return to play and they’ll go though the usual protocols.”
