Jon Cardinelli reports from DHL Stadium, Cape Town
LEINSTER BOSS LEO Cullen lamented his team’s lack of physicality and composure in their 35-0 loss to the Stormers on Friday.
Few would have predicted such an outcome at the Cape Town Stadium, where Leinster, the reigning URC champions and one of the leading attacking clubs in the world, failed to register a single point over the course of the 80 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Stormers scored four tries to secure a full house of log points.
Few teams keep Leinster try-less, and fewer yet keep them scoreless: the last to do so was Munster in 2008.
Afterwards, Cullen repeated the scoreline several times, as if he could hardly believe it.
“We were second in every department tonight,” Cullen said.
“It’s really disappointing, and I don’t think we can make any excuses when you score zero and concede 35.”
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The Stormers held a slender 6-0 lead at half-time, but continued to apply the pressure at the set pieces and via their kicking game after the break.
Leinster began to spiral, and a series of offences culminated in yellow cards for Max Deegan and Tommy O’Brien.
Leinster captain Luke McGrath expressed his disappointment when addressing the media at the Cape Town Stadium in the aftermath.
“Our game only works if the physicality is there. We were physically dominated today,” McGrath said.
“They were all over us at the gainline. We made a lot of mistakes on defence, and gave away too many penalties.
“It was a pretty quiet changing room after the game.”
Cullen admitted that the set pieces were an issue, as Leinster leaked penalties at the scrum and struggled to win much ball at the lineout.
“The Stormers had us in a stranglehold and we just never got out of it.
“We went into the game with the very best of intentions but it was a whole different level out there tonight.
“We didn’t do enough physically to apply the pressure, and we weren’t particularly accurate. Overall, I thought we were off the pace and the composure wasn’t there.
“We missed a few lineouts, and then the pressure just started to mount. I thought the Stormers contested very well in that department.”
Despite the severity of the defeat, Cullen believes a turnaround is possible ahead of the second clash of the URC campaign against the Bulls next week.
“It’s all about the contact work and the set piece. Lots of work to do,” the coach admitted.
“We’ll be up in Pretoria the whole week, and will have time to acclimatise.
“We have to show what we’re made of – the coaches as well as the players.
“Hopefully we’ll put in a better performance, because it’s very tough over here in South Africa.”
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'Our game only works if the physicality is there. We were physically dominated today'
Jon Cardinelli reports from DHL Stadium, Cape Town
LEINSTER BOSS LEO Cullen lamented his team’s lack of physicality and composure in their 35-0 loss to the Stormers on Friday.
Few would have predicted such an outcome at the Cape Town Stadium, where Leinster, the reigning URC champions and one of the leading attacking clubs in the world, failed to register a single point over the course of the 80 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Stormers scored four tries to secure a full house of log points.
Few teams keep Leinster try-less, and fewer yet keep them scoreless: the last to do so was Munster in 2008.
Afterwards, Cullen repeated the scoreline several times, as if he could hardly believe it.
“We were second in every department tonight,” Cullen said.
“It’s really disappointing, and I don’t think we can make any excuses when you score zero and concede 35.”
The Stormers held a slender 6-0 lead at half-time, but continued to apply the pressure at the set pieces and via their kicking game after the break.
Leinster began to spiral, and a series of offences culminated in yellow cards for Max Deegan and Tommy O’Brien.
Leinster captain Luke McGrath expressed his disappointment when addressing the media at the Cape Town Stadium in the aftermath.
“Our game only works if the physicality is there. We were physically dominated today,” McGrath said.
“They were all over us at the gainline. We made a lot of mistakes on defence, and gave away too many penalties.
“It was a pretty quiet changing room after the game.”
Cullen admitted that the set pieces were an issue, as Leinster leaked penalties at the scrum and struggled to win much ball at the lineout.
“The Stormers had us in a stranglehold and we just never got out of it.
“We went into the game with the very best of intentions but it was a whole different level out there tonight.
“We didn’t do enough physically to apply the pressure, and we weren’t particularly accurate. Overall, I thought we were off the pace and the composure wasn’t there.
“We missed a few lineouts, and then the pressure just started to mount. I thought the Stormers contested very well in that department.”
Despite the severity of the defeat, Cullen believes a turnaround is possible ahead of the second clash of the URC campaign against the Bulls next week.
“It’s all about the contact work and the set piece. Lots of work to do,” the coach admitted.
“We’ll be up in Pretoria the whole week, and will have time to acclimatise.
“We have to show what we’re made of – the coaches as well as the players.
“Hopefully we’ll put in a better performance, because it’s very tough over here in South Africa.”
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