ALL IS CHANGED, changed utterly. And yet as Irish rugby returned at the Aviva last night there was a reassuring constant in an otherwise unfamiliar setting.
Leo Cullen’s harsh immediate recaps of an impressive Leinster win.
We had to wait almost six months between his appraisals of consecutive win number 21 and 22, but after a 27-25 win over Munster he circled back time and again to a sense of disappointment that the result wound up being so tight when Leinster had opened up a 24-13 lead early in the second half.
“It’s great,” Cullen said of the latest win to add to the streak.
“When you get yourself into that defensive set there at the end to defend well and not give up a penalty.
“And then, in a pressure game, to put Munster back in their corner at the end. That is pleasing that last few minutes of the game, but frustrating that we got ourselves in that situation.
“It’s a win, we didn’t need to win the game today but still it’s always nice to get it and it just keeps the momentum going.
“We’ll still have to pull apart the performance because there were some aspects of it that weren’t at the level that we’d like them to be at.”
The levels Cullen is picturing is the intensity of a knock-out semi-final fixture, most likely against Munster again, in a fortnight.
“So that has to be our focus now for the next few days in terms of an analytical point of view, for the players to focus on leading into Ulster next week and the semi-finals the week after then.
You don’t want to be playing in any semi-final or any big game and getting yourself in a good position, and then leaving it that tight at the end because then you’re relying on a number of different variables.
“But I think we were in control of the game in theory at 50 minutes, but couldn’t quite kick on from there.”
The way Dave Kearney pulled up during a second half breakaway would suggest that his hamstring will keep him out of at least Pro14 action for a while. Cullen was more positive on the prospects of Cian Healy (arm), Josh van der Flier (hand) and Johnny Sexton (thumb) as he noted mere ‘bangs’ for the trio.
After such a long hiatus, there will be many more besides who will carry some stiffness through the coming days. Another hurdle to getting the well-oiled machine back working smoothly.
“There’s lots in that game, even though it’s very scrappy and frustrating, hopefully we’ll learn a lot from it. We’ve got to come to the Aviva on a Saturday night and experience what the new world looks like.
“Recovery is huge now, it’s been a long time so I’m sure guys will be sore over the next couple of days. We’ll make sure we get them recovered and ready to go against Ulster next week.”
The next week is all any good pro can ever focus on, but a side like Leinster also carries an expectation of success. The restarted competitions are there to be won in the weeks ahead and after they meet Ulster in a second game back, it’s knock-out rugby with trophies on the line until – they hope – mid-October.
“Before tonight,” says Sexton, who doesn’t shirk when asked issue a mission statement, we spoke having seven games potentially. Obviously we have a guaranteed four, but hopefully we’ll have a final and if we can beat Saracens we’ll have more.
“We spoke about having seven games to create something a little bit special. We spoke about one game at a time, tonight was the first one. We wanted to start on a good note. We got the win which is a massive positive and it’s what we’re here to do.
“Like I said, plenty to work on. That’s a great place to be after a win.”
