THE POST-MATCH press conferences after Leinster’s last two games have had a similar theme to them.
Two weekends ago, Ulster boss Dan McFarland came in after his side was beaten by Leinster in the Champions Cup round of 16. He was asked about how his side can close the gap to Leinster and he said:
“I can’t change the demographics. They’ve just got way more rugby players, way more earning potential in terms of the money. Nothing changes that.”
On Friday evening, Leicester head coach Richard Wigglesworth came in after his team was hammered by Leinster in the quarter-final. He was asked the same question and said:
“The gulf is in what you have available to spend. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong.
“I’m not asking to spend more money. I’m just being clear.”
So it was only right to give Leo Cullen the chance to address this topic. When he wants to be, the Leinster head coach is a master of saying nothing while talking for several minutes.
But this was an issue he genuinely engaged with when asked about McFarland and Wigglesworth’s remarks. He didn’t seem too impressed.
“Not long ago we were having the conversion about the gulf between us and other teams, French teams in particular, so you know what I mean?” said Cullen when asked if they were fair comments.
“Obviously English rugby is going through a tricky patch at the moment, so they’ve had to shrink their budgets off the back of what’s going on in the game and clubs going out of business. So, that’s probably called what, sensible business?
“We’re just focussing on what we can. I always think we’re only scratching the surface of what potential we have.”
It’s worth remembering that Leinster weren’t in such a healthy state early in Cullen’s tenure.
The season before he took over, Leinster didn’t even make the Pro12 play-offs. Cullen’s first campaign in charge saw the province winning just one of their six Champions Cup pool games and losing the Pro12 final to Connacht.
So what does Cullen believe Leinster have started to do better as a province since those days? As he echoes Stuart Lancaster in praising Leinster’s coaching, Cullen reflects on times even further back when it was other Irish provinces enjoying all the success.
“I think we’re fortunate that we’ve got a great staff,” said Cullen. “There’s a group of people there that are unbelievably passionate about the team.
“We’ve players that are unbelievably passionate about playing for Leinster which is what you want and that’s probably a legacy piece over time because it’s not that long ago, 20 years ago in 2003, we lost a semi-final here against Perpignan and I was involved in the game, but to the point where you were a little bit ashamed to walk out your front door because underachieved.
“We were watching other provinces lift European Cups. Ulster in the late ’90s and that’s off the back of Ulster winning 10 inter-pros in a row in the 1980s and ’90s, which is when I started watching rugby.
“So, that’s my formative years of watching rugby which was complete domination by Ulster.
“More recently, if you think about that period in 2003, Munster were the dominant province in Ireland, weren’t they? We got beaten by Perpignan that day 20 years ago.
“I have that programme somewhere, I can tell you exactly where it is – it’s on my desk.
“They stick in the memory. People have short memories, unfortunately I have a long one. It’s a moment in time, isn’t it?
“In terms of the coaching piece, the coaches are working with the players today and there was a group of coaches training this morning. There is a huge amount of work going into it and that’s not by accident either.
“There’s a number of young guys, academy and sub-academy players with Stuart [Lancaster], Robin [McBryde], Andrew Goodman, all the academy coaches out there delivering a session this morning, going through all of the things we want to deliver on over the next couple of weeks with that group.
“It’s hard work, there’s no secret to success. You’ve got to have guys who are willing to put in hard work and the minute you get complacent there’s somebody else waiting to take your spot.
“What would you say Ulster’s domination in the 1980s and ’90s was based on? Probably a really strong group of players who worked hard for each other and that’s what we’re trying to create here and have all the time, a strong group of players who want to work hard for each other. It’s not rocket science.
“Munster? What was that based on? A strong group of players who worked really hard for each other.
“We were hugely envious of that at the time, they had domination for 10 to 12 years.
“Yeah, people have funny memories haven’t they?”
