Leo Cullen: Crowd figures show derby lustre remains
Former team-mate Gordon D’Arcy had irked Cullen in the build-up to Saturday’s showdown at the Aviva Stadium by suggesting some of the intensity that has been the hallmark of this fixture had gone out of the blue-red battle.
Yet there was plenty of evidence to counter that theory as Cullen looked back on an efficient afternoon’s work after Leinster’s 25-14 win gave his side a fifth win in six starts this season and sent them level on points with Ulster at the top of the Guinness Pro12 table.
There was the added plus of denying Munster a losing bonus point and dropping them to fifth in the table and Cullen was understandably satisfied the game had ticked all the boxes.
“I think it was great, I don’t know what the numbers were but it was 41-42,000. It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” he said of the attendance.
“People want to knock the Pro12 but it’s developing as a tournament and it’s been full on. There have been some really good games so far in the first six rounds and it’s pretty congested at the top of that leaderboard.
“There are some really good teams, it was tough last year because the likes of Glasgow and Ospreys were missing a lot of players, the same as ourselves and other Irish teams (because of the World Cup). It meant other teams stole a march in that period. But you can see now in all of these games the teams are really, really focused.
“I thought there was really good intensity from the players, I know what’s at stake. It was a bit of an arm wrestle, but you look back over history there’s rarely been five tries in these games. They’re always tight, one or two tries here or there. It wasn’t the prettiest but it was full on. I thought it was good.”
Cullen now turns his attention to this Saturday’s Champions Cup opener against Castres, when Leinster switch home grounds from the Aviva to RDS.
“It will be good to be back at the RDS and I thought we started our last game at the RDS against the Ospreys with really good intensity and we need to get to that level where we don’t give teams a chance. It’s important that when we have the ball we put them under pressure, when we don’t have the ball and defending we’re putting them under massive pressure as well.
“At the RDS we should have that level of excitement and if we can fill the RDS with some of the 40,000 (from Saturday) then hopefully we’ll have a crack at it.”
Not before ironing out some creases from a performance that saw Munster expose a weakness at defending mauls on which French opposition such as Castres and then Montpellier the following week in France will be only too happy to exploit.
For an old lock like Cullen, conceding the opening try of the game to one was hard to take, while Munster’s late score also had its roots in the drive.
“It was poor, obviously for me more than anyone else. We allowed Munster to win the ball quite far back as well so. Then they’re building to the corner and taking us on in the corner. We’re committing bodies but they’re committing backs as well. That first one was a poor try to give away.
“And again, the second is a poor one, it stems from us not clearing a ruck on half-way, they kick to the line and then drive us the guts of 20 metres. That’s a poor try from a forward’s point of view, it gets us narrow in defence and Munster are able to see the edges and have the opportunity to get the ball wide.
“The set-piece battle is going to be huge against those French teams and you can’t give up those metres at maul in particular because if you watch the Top 14 you watch a lot of drives.”
Cullen reported no new injury worries from Saturday’s game but hinted there may be some welcome reinforcements on the way for the weekend. Fergus McFadden and Dave Kearney missed Saturday’s game while Sean O’Brien is nearing a return after a nine-month absence with a hamstring injury.
Asked if anyone was due to come back to face Castres, Cullen smiled and replied: “There may be a few.”
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