Leo Cullen says Leinster need boost before Toulon tie
Defeat to Wasps at the RDS eight days ago loaded this outing to one of Britain’s most beautiful cities with extra meaning and, though some aspects of the performance were much improved, Leinster couldn’t avoid registering back-to-back opening defeats in Europe for the first time since 1996.
Next up: Toulon. Oh, brother.
“It is going to be tough,” said Cullen. “The fact the (Bath v Toulon) game has been postponed, it’s very hard to say what one needs to do in this group. For us, we need to park Europe for the next couple of weeks and get a bit of confidence in the league.”
The Irish province offered little in attack and were dominated in possession and territory, but battled gamely. Time and again they scurried to undo the damage done by Bath’s incisive back line and it is a feather in their cap they didn’t concede a try from open play given the dangers.
Yet pretty much all of their good work was undone by a scrum that suffered a mauling not experienced by a Leinster eight in Europe since Toulouse destroyed a young Cian Healy & Co in a semi-final in France five years ago.
Four Ireland international props featured for the visitors, but they were filleted by the young pair of Henry Thomas and Nick Auterac as well as their replacements. It brought to mind England’s humiliation of the Irish setpiece at Twickenham three years ago.
Leinster conceded seven penalties at the setpiece in all and Bath racked up 16 points from them, including a penalty try with 18 minutes to play and the three-pointer kicked by George Ford with three minutes left after Leinster had fought back again to draw level.
The lineout wasn’t much better and it was a botched restart from touch that ultimately cost the visitors one last chance to snatch a draw or a win in the dying moments. That Leinster were in the hunt by then with so many basic malfunctions was extraordinary. Bath coach Mike Ford put it down to his side’s inexperience and failure to finish off promising line breaks. There is something in that, but the most revealing snapshot came via Josh Van Der Flier’s try from the blue with 10 minutes to go.
It was a score that emanated from James Tracy’s initial punch through the cover and scrum-half Luke McGrath’s speed of service and it was one finished off by another young and hungry replacement – someone who wasn’t at the World Cup, in other words.
Of their starters, Leinster leaned heaviest on their foreign contingent. Hayden Triggs was impressive in the second row before limping off, Ben Te’o was effective on both sides of the ball and Isa Nacewa did much good on his return at full-back.
The problem is that Leinster’s top internationals are not firing on all cylinders. Jonathan Sexton admitted there was a World Cup hangover last week and his performances and those of his Test colleagues back that up.
Cullen hummed and hawed when the ‘hangover’ theory was put to him again, but it was noticeable he bit more eagerly on the suggestion maybe the province’s younger blood was injecting some much-needed energy into proceedings.
“Yeah, exactly, and that’s been part of the challenge. Some of those young guys you mentioned, they’re in the system, they know the way we’re trying to do things that little bit better. So, again, we’ll get better. We will get better. So I would ask people just to keep the faith.”
It’s been a thankless task for Cullen and his management team who, Kurt McQuilkin apart, are rookies at this level, but this is clearly a side that needs freshening up. Established players need to be both rested and challenged by the next generation.
Some hard calls are needed.
Luke McGrath, Dominic Ryan and Van Der Flier are just three of the obvious candidates for promotion, though Cullen has a job juggling the various needs and wants of his squad with a schedule that reads Ulster, Glasgow, Toulon, Toulon, Munster between here and the New Year.
“I’m learning every day,” he said.“It’s a tough challenge, but it’s one that will hopefully bring out the best in the players. All I’m focussed on right now is the short-term of Ulster on Friday. That’s all I can focus on: making sure the players are prepped as best as possible.
“We had a marked increase in our performance levels from last Sunday and were close to winning that game out there. There were a lot of good qualities the team showed and we need to see more of those qualities over the next few weeks.” Some more than others.
A Watson; S Rokoduguni, O Devoto, K Eastmond, M Banahan; G Ford, C Cook; N Auterac, R Webber, H Thomas; D Attwood, S Hooper; M Garvey, F Louw, L Houston.
R Batty for Webber (54); A Fa’osiliva for Houston (55); N Matawalu for Cook (57); M Lahiff for Thomas (65); N Catt for Auterac (67); R Priestland for Devoto (71).
I Nacewa; F McFadden, B Te’o, L Fitzgerald; D Kearney; J Sexton, I Boss; C Healy, S Cronin, M Ross; D Toner, H Triggs; R Ruddock, J Murphy, J Heaslip.
M Moore for Ross and J McGrath for Healy (51); D Ryan for Triggs (53); J Van Der Flier for Murphy (65); J Tracy for Cronin and L McGrath for Boss (both 68); Z Kirchner for Kearney (79).
J Garces (France).
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