WINNING IS ALL that matters in knockout rugby, yet while Leo Cullen was pleased to see his Leinster team overcome Edinburgh in today’s Champions Cup round of 16 meeting, it was clear the nature of a wild 49-31 win in Dublin left the Leinster boss with plenty to digest.
Across a chaotic, strange game, Leinster put together some of their best rugby of the season, but a sloppy first half also saw the province make a series of poor errors, with their carelessness with the ball playing a direct part in three of Edinburgh’s four first-half tries.
The second half started in an equally frantic manner, Edinburgh managing to take the lead in the 51st minute, before Leinster finally took control with three quickfire tries across nine minutes to allow them see out the closing stages with relative comfort.
“Yeah, it’s a very unusual game, wasn’t it?” said Cullen.
“We start with great intent, you go 14-0 ahead. It’s always trying to get a balance then, isn’t it? Because guys want to play, they want to express themselves, they want to attack, have a positive mindset.
“But we give up an intercept from a scrum, which is from a forward pass. It comes back and off to a scrum, then we miss two tackles, Edinburgh scored their second try.
There’s lots of positive moments in that first half from an attacking point of view. We score four good tries, but to give up three intercept tries, it’s highly unusual.
“So what’s the message in the half-time? You still need to go out with the same mentality about trying to attack, and you can’t go into your shell because we want to be able to play with a positive intent.
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“It’s making sure you don’t clam up and get too jittery because otherwise, what type of team are we? Everyone wants to see us go out and play in a positive way. It’s always a balance.
“Then you go behind after Darcy Graham scores (in the second half). It’s a great individual try that he scores. We’ve seen him score plenty of tries like that over the years, so the threat that he always poses.
“We just need to show a bit of composure because we’ve a try chalked off, Josh (van der Flier) doesn’t quite ground the ball.
“Again, it’s lots of positive play up to that point, but again, do we go into our shells after that moment or after the next moment? It’s pleasing the way we keep managing to keep playing, but listen, there is a big ‘but’ in there because you give away three intercepts, like soft tries like that against quality opposition. You’re going to be made pay, and being made pay as in you’re going to be out of the tournament. It’s a good reminder for us about respecting possession, etc, making good decisions on the ball.”
Tommy O'Brien dives to scores Leinster's second try. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
While Cullen felt his players should have been more careful and accurate with their possession, he also felt Edinburgh were rewarded for targeting intercepts.
“There’s definitely Edinburgh going for intercepts, because even when Rieko (Iaone) scores his try at the end the guy goes for an intercept!
“Thankfully, Rieko shows and goes and puts the old afterburners on in the corner. But if you give that pass back inside to Jamison… if he gets tackled, everyone will be like ‘why didn’t you pass to Jamison?’ Because you’d get intercepted, that’s why!
They gambled and they gambled successfully, that’s the thing with a team with nothing to lose. Everyone was writing them off beforehand and they gambled well.
“So, what’s the message there? Be more conservative in terms of our play… it’s a fine line in terms of that message.”
Leinster now have a six-day turnaround before hosting Sale Sharks at the Aviva on Saturday at 5.30pm. Sale overcame Harlequins 26-17 at the Stoop last night, and sitting seventh in the PREM table, well outside the playoff spots, they can afford to go all-out in Dublin next weekend.
Cullen will hope to have Andrew Porter available for that quarter-final meeting, after the prop was forced off at half-time today.
“He came off at half-time, shoulder/pec injury. We’ll get him assessed,” Cullen said.
“My sense is it’s not too bad, but we’ll see.
“Harry (Byrne) was cramping, that’s why he came off. Nothing too serious, a knockout game it’s about getting through and it’s tough on a six-day turnaround.
“Listen, we’re playing at home – that’s the positive. We don’t have any travel. But travel is sometimes a positive for an away team because it builds some of that siege mentality. I’m sure Alex Sanderson will be trying to feed that into his team.
“That would be my experience of coming up against Sale and him as a coach over the years. Even with Saracens before that. They have a lot of pedigree in their group and they’ll be a handful. Winning away from home against Quins, just the manner of the way they did it, a physically dominant first half, so it’s making sure our guys are ready for that type of challenge.”
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'To give up three intercept tries, it's highly unusual' - Cullen
WINNING IS ALL that matters in knockout rugby, yet while Leo Cullen was pleased to see his Leinster team overcome Edinburgh in today’s Champions Cup round of 16 meeting, it was clear the nature of a wild 49-31 win in Dublin left the Leinster boss with plenty to digest.
Across a chaotic, strange game, Leinster put together some of their best rugby of the season, but a sloppy first half also saw the province make a series of poor errors, with their carelessness with the ball playing a direct part in three of Edinburgh’s four first-half tries.
The second half started in an equally frantic manner, Edinburgh managing to take the lead in the 51st minute, before Leinster finally took control with three quickfire tries across nine minutes to allow them see out the closing stages with relative comfort.
“Yeah, it’s a very unusual game, wasn’t it?” said Cullen.
“We start with great intent, you go 14-0 ahead. It’s always trying to get a balance then, isn’t it? Because guys want to play, they want to express themselves, they want to attack, have a positive mindset.
“But we give up an intercept from a scrum, which is from a forward pass. It comes back and off to a scrum, then we miss two tackles, Edinburgh scored their second try.
“So what’s the message in the half-time? You still need to go out with the same mentality about trying to attack, and you can’t go into your shell because we want to be able to play with a positive intent.
“It’s making sure you don’t clam up and get too jittery because otherwise, what type of team are we? Everyone wants to see us go out and play in a positive way. It’s always a balance.
“Then you go behind after Darcy Graham scores (in the second half). It’s a great individual try that he scores. We’ve seen him score plenty of tries like that over the years, so the threat that he always poses.
“We just need to show a bit of composure because we’ve a try chalked off, Josh (van der Flier) doesn’t quite ground the ball.
“Again, it’s lots of positive play up to that point, but again, do we go into our shells after that moment or after the next moment? It’s pleasing the way we keep managing to keep playing, but listen, there is a big ‘but’ in there because you give away three intercepts, like soft tries like that against quality opposition. You’re going to be made pay, and being made pay as in you’re going to be out of the tournament. It’s a good reminder for us about respecting possession, etc, making good decisions on the ball.”
While Cullen felt his players should have been more careful and accurate with their possession, he also felt Edinburgh were rewarded for targeting intercepts.
“There’s definitely Edinburgh going for intercepts, because even when Rieko (Iaone) scores his try at the end the guy goes for an intercept!
“Thankfully, Rieko shows and goes and puts the old afterburners on in the corner. But if you give that pass back inside to Jamison… if he gets tackled, everyone will be like ‘why didn’t you pass to Jamison?’ Because you’d get intercepted, that’s why!
“So, what’s the message there? Be more conservative in terms of our play… it’s a fine line in terms of that message.”
Leinster now have a six-day turnaround before hosting Sale Sharks at the Aviva on Saturday at 5.30pm. Sale overcame Harlequins 26-17 at the Stoop last night, and sitting seventh in the PREM table, well outside the playoff spots, they can afford to go all-out in Dublin next weekend.
Cullen will hope to have Andrew Porter available for that quarter-final meeting, after the prop was forced off at half-time today.
“He came off at half-time, shoulder/pec injury. We’ll get him assessed,” Cullen said.
“My sense is it’s not too bad, but we’ll see.
“Harry (Byrne) was cramping, that’s why he came off. Nothing too serious, a knockout game it’s about getting through and it’s tough on a six-day turnaround.
“Listen, we’re playing at home – that’s the positive. We don’t have any travel. But travel is sometimes a positive for an away team because it builds some of that siege mentality. I’m sure Alex Sanderson will be trying to feed that into his team.
“That would be my experience of coming up against Sale and him as a coach over the years. Even with Saracens before that. They have a lot of pedigree in their group and they’ll be a handful. Winning away from home against Quins, just the manner of the way they did it, a physically dominant first half, so it’s making sure our guys are ready for that type of challenge.”
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