LEINSTER’S ABILITY to continue their evolution through a couple of Heineken Cup titles is predicated on a hard mental edge. Any satisfaction gleaned from the first-half performance in their 34-3 defeat of the Cardiff Blues was superseded by a cold analysis of any shortcomings.
Players take responsibility and it’s direction that comes from the top.
Leinster captain Leo Cullen leads in many aspects, vocally and physically, so his candour in reviewing perhaps the main problem area for Leinster during a largely bloodless coup, the lineout, was typically honest.
He admitted: “Yeah it was mainly on the timing. I thought we prepped very well during the week. Cardiff made some good reads as well so yeah, it was a very disappointing aspect of the game from a personal [perspective]. I take on that responsibility and it didn’t go well for us today if I’m being pretty honest. We’ll sit down on Monday and go through it.
“The lineout was average at best I guess. We’d some good steals in defence but apart from that we were pretty sloppy I thought. It meant we couldn’t really build constructive phases in the second half.
“We’re away from home in the semis and we need to realise there were a lot of parts to the game today where to be fair we probably let ourselves down.”
In charting the genesis of Leinster’s transformation into a European Cup team, Cullen returns to a quarter-final in 2009.
“I guess it changed in my eyes when we went away in that quarter-final against Harlequins and dogged out a 6-5 result over there; we got a bit of confidence and came in a little bit under the radar.
“We won reasonably convincingly in that semi-final against Munster and I suppose they were the team that was being hyped up that year. They were the European champions.
“They’d just come off beating the Ospreys by 40 points at home in the quarters. They were on the back of two Heineken Cups in three years so obviously we need to learn from that as well, in winning pretty convincingly today.
“It’s going to be tough going away in the semi-final. I think we’ve been together for a good period of time. Every season I think the organisation has added an extra couple of pieces to the jigsaw.
“I think they’ve always added greatly to the team; we’re obviously looking to improve every year to strengthen the squad. We’re lucky with the Academy guys coming through, all pushing through to make the team.
“That’s what we’re trying to build here. We don’t want to just be successful for a flash in the pan season.
“We want to be continually pushing for honours. We’re in the position we want to be at the moment. So it’s a combination of factors, really, I think Leinster Inc, or whatever you want to call it, is hungry to be successful.”
