ANOTHER HURDLE CLEARED, yet still, Leinster do not have the look of a champion side.
Focus on the good, and the province can be pleased with Sunday’s Champions Cup round of 16 win in which they scored seven tries and frankly, should have had a couple more. Hone in on the bad, and they’ll wonder how they leaked five tries against an Edinburgh team who sit 13th in the URC, and why so many of those scores were put on a plate for their visitors.
In the first half Leinster were turned on their heels three times as Edinburgh ran in intercept tries. That is, as Cullen put it, “highly unusual.” One imagines the review he gives his players might be stronger than the one he supplied to the media.
Reflecting on a head-scratcher of a performance, which ended in a 49-31 win, Cullen felt the experience was a reminder in the importance of respecting the ball. Brush those errors out of their game, and Leinster can still go deep in Europe – when they were good on Sunday, they looked excellent. Yet continue to turn in these strange, disjointed performances, and they won’t make the big day in Bilbao next month.
The next challenge is a six-day turnaround to face Sale in Saturday’s quarter-final, again at the Aviva, and while Cullen acknowledges the work needed, he takes heart in how his team finished out Sunday’s game. Not for the first time this season, Leinster were in a tricky spot but still came out on top.
“Yeah, and again, that’s the thing, the confidence in the group,” Cullen said.
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Jimmy O’Brien makes a break. Henry Simpson / INPHO
Henry Simpson / INPHO / INPHO
“The pool stages were a little bit sticky for us I think this year. We started well against La Rochelle and that became a right arm-wrestle, the lead changing hands, so that as an example. Some of the other games, Bayonne away, Leicester away, we were behind at half-time by what, nine and 10 points I think, so we had to find a way to come from behind. So that is pleasing.
But listen, when you’re playing at home, a perfect world you start like we did out there today and just kick on and win the game nice and comfortable, manage things on your terms, but unfortunately that’s not the way it is.
“We don’t live in a perfect world so you have to be able to deal with the opposition, you have to be able to deal with certain things that happen in the course of the game.
“Listen, we’re doing things in lots of different ways, for sure, this season, but it’s just trying to build on some of the positive bits of play we had there. We have a short week this week, we’re in the graveyard shift so to speak on a Sunday, need to turn the page pretty quickly into playing back here next Saturday at 5.30.
“We’ve got ourselves in a position where we have a home quarter-final and we need to make the most of it, because we were close to being really good today and we were really good in patches, but there were other patches where you’re like, eugh, we’re making it more difficult than it needs to be.
“But, we’re getting there.”
The positives should not be overlooked. Leinster did score some excellent tries, and the impact off the bench helped them eventually take control of the end-game – scoring three unanswered tries between the 55th and 64th minute.
Jack Conan and Harry Byrne. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
And there were some highly encouraging individual displays. Ryan Baird looked sharp on his first outing since breaking his leg in November, while Harry Byrne had a good day at 10 and will surely continue in the jersey against Sale. The out-half kicked seven from seven off the tee (and a further conversion which eventually didn’t count), and had some nice moments with ball in hand.
“It’s important,” Cullen said of Byrne.
“For the 10, the role of the 10, listen, the lads are all pushing each other on. I don’t like sometimes the way that narrative and you (media) have to talk about something but we’ve a great gang here and I’m talking about 10s specifically now, but I can touch on Josh (van der Flier) because he’s sitting beside me here. The competition with the sevens, with Scott Penny and Will Connors there as well. You need that competition across the group.
“If Josh drops down, you’ve got someone ready to go and vice versa. So, everyone just needs to keep pushing each other on now because that’s where we need to be as a club.
“You can’t just be reliant on 15 or 23 guys. To your actual question about Harry, really pleasing how he went today.”
Rieko Ioane also had his best game yet in Leinster colours, scoring a fine try after moving from centre to wing in the second half.
“You can see his athleticism out there, he’s some great touches on the ball and hopefully he keeps improving. We’re seeing lots of that in training, his ability to finish is off the charts.”
Leinster will take today off before coming back together on Tuesday, with Andrew Porter the main injury concern coming out of yesterday.
A home quarter final is, as Cullen says, where the province want to be, but with the heat rising Leinster still find themselves searching for their top form.
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Leinster still searching for top form after shaky showing against Edinburgh
ANOTHER HURDLE CLEARED, yet still, Leinster do not have the look of a champion side.
Focus on the good, and the province can be pleased with Sunday’s Champions Cup round of 16 win in which they scored seven tries and frankly, should have had a couple more. Hone in on the bad, and they’ll wonder how they leaked five tries against an Edinburgh team who sit 13th in the URC, and why so many of those scores were put on a plate for their visitors.
In the first half Leinster were turned on their heels three times as Edinburgh ran in intercept tries. That is, as Cullen put it, “highly unusual.” One imagines the review he gives his players might be stronger than the one he supplied to the media.
Reflecting on a head-scratcher of a performance, which ended in a 49-31 win, Cullen felt the experience was a reminder in the importance of respecting the ball. Brush those errors out of their game, and Leinster can still go deep in Europe – when they were good on Sunday, they looked excellent. Yet continue to turn in these strange, disjointed performances, and they won’t make the big day in Bilbao next month.
The next challenge is a six-day turnaround to face Sale in Saturday’s quarter-final, again at the Aviva, and while Cullen acknowledges the work needed, he takes heart in how his team finished out Sunday’s game. Not for the first time this season, Leinster were in a tricky spot but still came out on top.
“Yeah, and again, that’s the thing, the confidence in the group,” Cullen said.
“The pool stages were a little bit sticky for us I think this year. We started well against La Rochelle and that became a right arm-wrestle, the lead changing hands, so that as an example. Some of the other games, Bayonne away, Leicester away, we were behind at half-time by what, nine and 10 points I think, so we had to find a way to come from behind. So that is pleasing.
“We don’t live in a perfect world so you have to be able to deal with the opposition, you have to be able to deal with certain things that happen in the course of the game.
“Listen, we’re doing things in lots of different ways, for sure, this season, but it’s just trying to build on some of the positive bits of play we had there. We have a short week this week, we’re in the graveyard shift so to speak on a Sunday, need to turn the page pretty quickly into playing back here next Saturday at 5.30.
“We’ve got ourselves in a position where we have a home quarter-final and we need to make the most of it, because we were close to being really good today and we were really good in patches, but there were other patches where you’re like, eugh, we’re making it more difficult than it needs to be.
“But, we’re getting there.”
The positives should not be overlooked. Leinster did score some excellent tries, and the impact off the bench helped them eventually take control of the end-game – scoring three unanswered tries between the 55th and 64th minute.
And there were some highly encouraging individual displays. Ryan Baird looked sharp on his first outing since breaking his leg in November, while Harry Byrne had a good day at 10 and will surely continue in the jersey against Sale. The out-half kicked seven from seven off the tee (and a further conversion which eventually didn’t count), and had some nice moments with ball in hand.
“It’s important,” Cullen said of Byrne.
“For the 10, the role of the 10, listen, the lads are all pushing each other on. I don’t like sometimes the way that narrative and you (media) have to talk about something but we’ve a great gang here and I’m talking about 10s specifically now, but I can touch on Josh (van der Flier) because he’s sitting beside me here. The competition with the sevens, with Scott Penny and Will Connors there as well. You need that competition across the group.
“If Josh drops down, you’ve got someone ready to go and vice versa. So, everyone just needs to keep pushing each other on now because that’s where we need to be as a club.
“You can’t just be reliant on 15 or 23 guys. To your actual question about Harry, really pleasing how he went today.”
Rieko Ioane also had his best game yet in Leinster colours, scoring a fine try after moving from centre to wing in the second half.
“You can see his athleticism out there, he’s some great touches on the ball and hopefully he keeps improving. We’re seeing lots of that in training, his ability to finish is off the charts.”
Leinster will take today off before coming back together on Tuesday, with Andrew Porter the main injury concern coming out of yesterday.
A home quarter final is, as Cullen says, where the province want to be, but with the heat rising Leinster still find themselves searching for their top form.
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Champions Cup Leinster Leo Cullen Rugby Work to do