LEINSTER COACH LEO Cullen admitted the return of the Sharks’ Springbok heavyweights had added another dimension as his team suffered a second successive defeat on their South African tour.

The Sharks, boosted by the return of Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Thomas du Toit from Springbok duty, edged Leinster 26-20 in a bruising encounter at Kings Park on Saturday, leaving Cullen frustrated at another match in which his team had created opportunities but failed to convert them.

“It was a good physical game,” said Cullen. “This is the Sharks. They’ve just brought a few of the heavy hitters back, so, yeah, there’s a lot of frustrations.”

Leinster had also lost narrowly to the Lions in Johannesburg the previous weekend, and Cullen felt there was a familiar thread running through both matches.

“We were trying to make improvements from last week, where we get lots of 22-metre entries, we’re just not quite converting, and that was a little bit of a story in the game today,” he said.

The Sharks put Leinster under severe pressure in the first half, particularly after the Irish side lost a forward to the sin bin, but Cullen was pleased with how his young team survived that period.

“Weathered the storm pretty well,” he said. “We had lots of good opportunities in the second half, but I thought the Sharks were very resolute in how they defended and kept us out.”

Leinster were also operating with a considerably inexperienced squad, with several academy players included in their 23.

“There are certain things that we can be better at,” Cullen said. “We had seven academy players in the 23 today, so it’s a steep learning curve for some of those guys at this level. Hopefully it’ll all be better for the experience.”

The defeat means Leinster have now lost both matches on their South African tour for the second successive season, although Cullen pointed out that they had taken three log points from the two games this time compared with one last year.

“It’s unfortunately another loss, a five-point [six-point] loss this time, but we get a point from the game,” he said. “We need to keep improving quickly.”

Cullen acknowledged that the timing of the tour, with Ireland’s international players returning at different stages, makes the opening rounds of the United Rugby Championship particularly challenging.

“It’s always a little bit of a tricky start to the season with players coming back at different stages,” he said. “When you travel down here, you need to get all parts of your game right because you get exposed here if you don’t.

“Lions are a good team, Sharks are a good team, and unfortunately we weren’t quite good enough this week or last week.”

But Cullen also believes the experience will prove valuable for the younger players who have been thrown into the deep end.

“We’ve got a few academy players that have made their Leinster debuts, started for Leinster for the first time, so there’s lots of positives from the trip,” he said.

The quality of the Sharks’ returning Springboks was not lost on Cullen, who said their presence was an indication of the strength they could possess this season.

“They look like they’re in business this year,” he said. “You can see the mentality that they have in their squad.”

Cullen said the difficulty of winning away from home in the URC was becoming increasingly evident.

“Every team is going to be difficult in this competition away from home. You know you’re in for some proper battles now,” he said.

Leinster now turn their attention to Cardiff, who have won their opening two matches, before the Champions Cup begins the following week.

“We can’t dwell on these two defeats now,” Cullen said. “We need to learn quickly and move forward.

“Cardiff will test us in lots of different areas. We’ll have some more of the international crew back in the mix.

“We’re disappointed with today, but we’re very excited about what’s ahead now.”