Leo Cullen hailed Leinster’s 26-12 bonus point win over their arch rivals Munster as a fitting tribute to what was a memorable occasion in front of a record crowd at a BKT URC game of 80,468 at Croke Park.
“It’s so special, isn’t it? Even just the drive into the stadium across town, it’s magic. We feel so lucky, from the player’s point of view, to be able to perform here.
“It’s hard to compare to last season. It’s different, isn’t it? A lot of Munster fans in the ground and they made a lot of noise over the course of the warm-up and it just adds to the occasion. It’s a very, very special occasion, but it’s round four now and it’s turn the page quite quickly,” said Cullen.
Munster fired plenty of shots, not least after Leinster stormed into a 21-0 lead inside 16 minutes, but despite the visiting team making six line breaks to Leinster’s four, Cullen’s players appeared to revel in scrambling for their lives and each other
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“Yeah, the intent was good. You’re seeing people working hard and you might get breached every now and again. But there’s always a bit of risk-reward isn’t there? And guys are being nice and aggressive, which is what we want.
“Overall, some guys are playing their second game of the season and it’s such a physical game. You can see guys from both teams coming off at different stages, so a hugely physical game, but it’s played in the right spirit overall as well, isn’t it? Even at the end, you just see the way guys are so yeah, we’re pleased.”
Most eyes would have been trailed on RG Snyman given this was a home Leinster debut against his former team and after garnishing the occasion with Leinster’s fourth try with the last play of the first-half, the dual World Cup winner was given a mixed reception when replaced after 50 minutes.
“Yeah, it’s weird thinking ‘home’ in Croke Park,” admitted Cullen. “RG has been fantastic – 50 minutes last week, 50 minutes again today, gets in for a try. A mixed response coming off, but yeah, he’s been great since he’s come into the group and hopefully he can kick on now. We’re really pleased.”
The contest didn’t come without a cost, for both sides, with Jack Conan departing in the first-half.
“I didn’t get a huge amount from the medics in there, so we’ll get the report on Monday.
“There’s a few bangs and bruises. Even Lee Barron going off at half time, which was not planned. Ryan Baird comes off as well, RG had come off just before that. That was sort of to get him up and running with 50 minutes and then you lose Ryan Baird.
“So it’s disruptive. You have a tighthead playing in the backrow, make a chance and then you’ve a loosehead playing in the backrow, so it’s never going to be perfect.”
The only other blemish on a memorable day for Leinster was the failure to score a point in the second period.
“We still had some opportunities and just couldn’t quite nail them. As I touched on, a lot of guys playing their second game of the season. It’s never going to be perfect in terms of execution. Munster were very aggressive the way they contested every ruck, and again, we’ll just have a look back at some of those calls that go against us.
“They come up with some turnovers close to their try line and we’ll have a look back at some of those. It was all or nothing for them so they had to contest very aggressively at the breakdown and they kept playing as well.
“I thought we played, for the most part, a lot of the game down at their end of the field in the second half. We just couldn’t come away with any scores, unfortunately, but we’ll have a look back at some of those parts of the game.”
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