Leo Cullen must rally dejected Leinster players after ‘unacceptable’ performance against Wasps

All defeats hurt, some more than others.

Professional sport has diluted the connection between those who are paid to play games and the rest who pay to watch, but that bond still runs deep in rugby, and nowhere more so than in Ireland, where so many players represent their home provinces.

Sixteen of Leinster’s 23 yesterday were natives of the province and it isn’t stretching things too far to suggest that the likes of Eoin Reddan and Mike Ross would have felt no better as they left the RDS last night.