LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen said he was frustrated by coming away from their two United Rugby Championship matches in South Africa with just one log point, but was pleased with the improvement in performance in their narrow defeat by the Bulls in Pretoria this weekend.

The defending champions went down 31-39 to the team they beat convincingly in last season’s final, the Bulls sealing victory with a 78th-minute intercept try by centre David Kriel. Leinster out-half Sam Prendergast missed with a drop goal attempt from halfway moments before the try, which would have given the visitors a 34-32 lead.

Prendergast also failed with a long-range penalty in the 80th minute that would have given Leinster a losing bonus point to go with the one they notched for scoring four tries.

But Cullen’s team played with far more intensity than in their 35-0 drubbing by the Stormers the previous weekend, and with a little more luck, they certainly could have claimed a rare away victory at Loftus Versfeld.

“It’s a long way to come for one point,” Cullen mused after the match. “It was frustrating because there was lots of really good stuff in the game and we showed good composure generally. It feels like one that got away, and then we gave up the losing bonus point as well.

“But it was an improved performance on last week, that’s the good news. We conceded a couple of long-range tries in the first half and one on halftime, but we came out in the second half with great intent and scored a couple of great tries.”

“We could have had a third but lost the ball on the try-line, and it was a big moment after that when they scored and we had a couple of things going on in the backfield. A couple of decisions didn’t go our way, but the Bulls were more clinical in some of the opportunities they took, all credit to them, they deserved to win,” said Cullen.

At half time, Leinster were down 10-22 and the outlook was ominous. But they dominated the second half, troubling the Bulls with their offloading game and they also won the set-piece and territory battles.

Cullen said the mood at half time was still positive.

“It didn’t feel like a 10-22 game. They’ve got speed and can punish you, and they scored a couple of length-of-the-field tries. But there had been plenty of good stuff and the message was to just keep at it.

“I thought we were a little tentative in the first half, so another message was to go for it. It was always going to be a sticky start with guys coming back into the team, but after the Stormers beat us emphatically it was back to work this week and it was a much better performance.

“We’ve got to keep building. It’s been a disjointed start. Having 14 guys in the British and Irish Lions squad is a great honour, but we suffer. Those guys will start their season later, so hopefully they’ll have more juice at the back end of the tournament.”