LEINSTER COACH LEO Cullen lamented a poor response to an early 15-minute blitz by the Emirates Lions in their United Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park on Saturday, but insisted that the 44-12 defeat – although painful – was necessary to develop the younger players within his squad.
The hosts fed off early errors from Leinster, scoring the opening try of the match as early as the first minute through Morne van den Berg. A penalty from Sanele Nohamba followed before tries from Marius Louw and Quan Horn propelled them to a shock 22-0 lead.
Although Leinster attempted to turn their fortunes around, the damage had been done and they never recovered from the initial setback. Indeed, it would take until the 53rd minute before they crossed the whitewash with Ciaran Frawley scoring.
“(The Lions) beat us to the punch a good bit in that first 15 minutes,” Cullen said, after the loss. “After that, we had a lot of possession at their end of the field but with so many opportunities down in that area, we just weren’t clinical enough ultimately.
“Even 22-7 at half-time is a bit of a difference for the start of the second half. It becomes a different game and you can start putting a bit more pressure on the Lions but we never had enough of that pressure, really.”
Cullen’s selection for the match will have been recognised as consisting of the squad’s fringe players, as the 46-year-old opted to rest his more regular players ahead of their Champions Cup semi-final clash against Northampton early in May. Nevertheless, the defeat, Cullen admitted, will require a rethink heading into their match against the Stormers next weekend.
“The model that we have, we primarily have to bring young players through the system and we have got to get them experience at some point …
“We will make some assessments and make a call on what we must do, because to go down to Cape Town and play the Stormers isn’t going to get easier for us. It is a bloody tough challenge down there …
“(We) got a bloody hard lesson out there today and the hope is that you will always be better for that experience. As painful as it is sometimes, you have to go through it.”