IT’S STILL EARLY in the season but Leinster find themselves in the unusual position of chasing.
They’re 12th in the URC table after three defeats in their opening four games.
Leinster only lost two games in the entirety of last season’s URC.
Adding to the frustration of their poor start to the season is the fact that Munster, their long-standing arch rivals, left them empty-handed at Croke Park tonight. Leinster couldn’t muster a losing bonus point. Munster grabbed a try-scoring bonus to put the cherry on their cake.
It was jarring to listen to Leinster boss Leo Cullen say that he felt his players were beaten in terms of work rate.
“I heard Clayton [McMillan, the Munster boss] talk about hard work, grit, and determination,” said Cullen after his side’s 31-14 defeat.
“They showed that in spades, didn’t they?
“Whereas we were second in hard work, grit and determination and we just need to take that on the chin and be better next time.”
That will hurt Leinster the most of anything. They are rarely found wanting in terms of their physical effort.
They were the home side, they had a multitude of Ireland internationals and British and Irish Lions in their team, and they had an excellent recent record against Munster.
Cullen spoke about how the disjointed nature of Leinster’s pre-season has been a challenge.
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“It was always going to be a bit of a sticky start to the season for us,” he said.
“We’ve talked about it over the last while and now we’re seeing it unfold.”
Leinster skipper Josh van der Flier. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
Yet, surely that shouldn’t affect Leinster’s ability to produce hard work, grit, and determination.
“You’ve got to understand, to get to the pitch of a game, you’ve got to play some games,” said Cullen.
“A lot of those guys for Munster, listen they’ve played at least two of the three URC games and some of them played in the warm-up games before so that battle-hardened piece. We’re just not battle hardened at the moment. It is what it is.
“I’m not sure exactly what the solution is for us moving forward. How we get to that physical pitch and speed of playing games.
“Listen, we need to analyse what we do there for future seasons because what we’ve done this year clearly hasn’t worked out. We’ve lost three of the last four games.”
It’s all well and good pointing out that many of his men were playing for the first time this season, but Tadhg Beirne rubbished that point with his phenomenal performance for Munster as he made his first appearance of the campaign.
Having been the player of the British and Irish Lions series, Beirne returned for Munster with a world-class performance.
Surely that makes it all the more disappointing for Leinster, whose returning men weren’t at their best?
“It does, yeah,” said Cullen. “It’s disappointing. It’s disappointing for the fans who turn out to watch.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t give a better account of ourselves for sure because we’re down that end of the field, we’re doing everything bar getting that last one or two metres. How many times do we get held up versus Munster take the corner and they get in for that try, which looks relatively easy.
Leinster struggled to break Munster down. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“We’re in the position, probably 12 sequences where you might have five to six carries that are similar to that, so if I’m looking back at the review, that’s what I would be looking at, first and foremost.
“Why are these guys that bit hungrier than us?
“Some of that can be hard to put your finger on. It’s making sure that we all try and own it.”
The tricky thing for Leinster is that the vast majority of the group who played tonight won’t be around for the review of this game on Monday.
21 Leinster players are heading into Ireland camp that day, so their attention turns elsewhere until December.
Cullen indicated that Tommy O’Brien and Jack Conan, who were withdrawn from this game at a late stage, should be fine to join up with Ireland. O’Brien had a back issue, while Conan twisted his knee, but Cullen said he didn’t think either injury was serious.
Cullen, meanwhile, will have a different Leinster group for next weekend’s clash against Zebre at the Aviva Stadium.
He knows there is lots of hard work ahead after this bad night against Munster.
“It’s a good wake-up for the group, isn’t it?” said Cullen.
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'Why are these guys that bit hungrier than us?' - Leo Cullen
IT’S STILL EARLY in the season but Leinster find themselves in the unusual position of chasing.
They’re 12th in the URC table after three defeats in their opening four games.
Leinster only lost two games in the entirety of last season’s URC.
Adding to the frustration of their poor start to the season is the fact that Munster, their long-standing arch rivals, left them empty-handed at Croke Park tonight. Leinster couldn’t muster a losing bonus point. Munster grabbed a try-scoring bonus to put the cherry on their cake.
It was jarring to listen to Leinster boss Leo Cullen say that he felt his players were beaten in terms of work rate.
“I heard Clayton [McMillan, the Munster boss] talk about hard work, grit, and determination,” said Cullen after his side’s 31-14 defeat.
“They showed that in spades, didn’t they?
“Whereas we were second in hard work, grit and determination and we just need to take that on the chin and be better next time.”
That will hurt Leinster the most of anything. They are rarely found wanting in terms of their physical effort.
They were the home side, they had a multitude of Ireland internationals and British and Irish Lions in their team, and they had an excellent recent record against Munster.
Cullen spoke about how the disjointed nature of Leinster’s pre-season has been a challenge.
“It was always going to be a bit of a sticky start to the season for us,” he said.
“We’ve talked about it over the last while and now we’re seeing it unfold.”
Yet, surely that shouldn’t affect Leinster’s ability to produce hard work, grit, and determination.
“You’ve got to understand, to get to the pitch of a game, you’ve got to play some games,” said Cullen.
“A lot of those guys for Munster, listen they’ve played at least two of the three URC games and some of them played in the warm-up games before so that battle-hardened piece. We’re just not battle hardened at the moment. It is what it is.
“I’m not sure exactly what the solution is for us moving forward. How we get to that physical pitch and speed of playing games.
“Listen, we need to analyse what we do there for future seasons because what we’ve done this year clearly hasn’t worked out. We’ve lost three of the last four games.”
It’s all well and good pointing out that many of his men were playing for the first time this season, but Tadhg Beirne rubbished that point with his phenomenal performance for Munster as he made his first appearance of the campaign.
Having been the player of the British and Irish Lions series, Beirne returned for Munster with a world-class performance.
Surely that makes it all the more disappointing for Leinster, whose returning men weren’t at their best?
“It does, yeah,” said Cullen. “It’s disappointing. It’s disappointing for the fans who turn out to watch.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t give a better account of ourselves for sure because we’re down that end of the field, we’re doing everything bar getting that last one or two metres. How many times do we get held up versus Munster take the corner and they get in for that try, which looks relatively easy.
“We’re in the position, probably 12 sequences where you might have five to six carries that are similar to that, so if I’m looking back at the review, that’s what I would be looking at, first and foremost.
“Why are these guys that bit hungrier than us?
“Some of that can be hard to put your finger on. It’s making sure that we all try and own it.”
The tricky thing for Leinster is that the vast majority of the group who played tonight won’t be around for the review of this game on Monday.
21 Leinster players are heading into Ireland camp that day, so their attention turns elsewhere until December.
Cullen indicated that Tommy O’Brien and Jack Conan, who were withdrawn from this game at a late stage, should be fine to join up with Ireland. O’Brien had a back issue, while Conan twisted his knee, but Cullen said he didn’t think either injury was serious.
Cullen, meanwhile, will have a different Leinster group for next weekend’s clash against Zebre at the Aviva Stadium.
He knows there is lots of hard work ahead after this bad night against Munster.
“It’s a good wake-up for the group, isn’t it?” said Cullen.
He’ll have to hope so.
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determination Leinster Leo Cullen Munster URC