Leo Cullen pleased as Leinster go for the jugular in Galway
WENT FOR THE JUGULAR: Leinster head coach Leo Cullen before the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at the Sportsground in Galway. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Leinster’s new senior coach Jacques Nienaber must have spent the weekend chewing over the imperfections of his men in their first game on his watch but one trait he will notice that they share with his all-conquering Springboks is they know how to win a tight match.
Leinster, with a largely second string side, were a beaten docket down three points when they coughed up a penalty inside the Connacht 22 with the clock heading for red.
But a crooked lineout throw from Dylan Tierney-Martin presented them with a lifeline near halfway and they made it count, stringing together a flowing movement which ended with Ciaran Frawley, stranded at full-back throughout the night with little involvement, cutting a perfect line to score in the right corner and not only snatch the win but also a bonus point.
Nienaber will acknowledge that winning mentality but will also know that a sharper team than Connacht, whose lineout disintegrated, would have been out of sight.
Leo Cullen was wondering what Leinster would have done if they had been awarded a penalty to tie the match — there has never been a draw between these sides in 43 league meetings — and he has no doubt they would have gone for the jugular despite an attack that misfired for large chunks of the game.
“We’re all sitting there at 78 minutes, if we get a penalty what will we do? Will we go for a draw. I think the general consensus was to go for the win,” said the Leinster head coach.
“It didn’t come down to that situation but at least the players are brave to take the space and be composed enough to execute under pressure. It’s a great team try at the end which was very pleasing but there’s lots of parts to the performance you look back at and go we’ve plenty to work on.
"But we've won the game, it’s a credit to the players and I think it’s a great advert for the game, two provincial teams providing great entertainment. A bit too exciting!
"It was incredibly dogged all the way through, defensively and in attack. Second half we were a lot better, particularly that first half of the second half. We were a lot more dominant in terms of our carries, contacts,” added Cullen who now turns his attention to next Sunday’s clash with Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle in France.
His side trailed 8-7 at the break with Mack Hansen, back from World Cup duty, twice involved in setting up replacement David Hawkshaw for Connacht’s opening try after nine minutes.
JJ Hanrahan added a Connacht penalty while they had centre Cathal Forde in the bin for a high tackle but an understrength Leinster side struck before the break when Charlie Ngatai scored.
Leinster dominated the third quarter as Connacht’s lineout disintegrated and they hit the front after 51 minutes when Jason Jenkins crowned his 28th birthday with a try after Connacht prop Peter Dooley was binned for not retreating and Leinster added a third from hooker Ronan Kelleher after a grubber from Ngatai bounced kindly for him to lead by 19-8 after 56 minutes.
Connacht got a lifeline 15 minutes from time when replacement Paul Boyle, back from injury for his first action of the season, put Forde away in midfield and he had his captain Caolin Blade on his shoulder to sprint home, with Hanrahan’s conversion reducing the margin to 19-15.
They hit the front ten minutes from time when a good turnover by Boyle saw Hansen produce more magic to break from deep down the left, draw the cover before sending Diarmuid Kilgallen through for his fifth try of the campaign. Hanrahan converted to make it 22-19 to Connacht.
That should have been enough to see it out but Connacht lost a throw with the clock in the red after clearing their lines with a penalty and Leinster made them pay with a flowing movement which ended with full-back Frawley, who had hardly touched the ball until then, running a superb line on the right before cutting inside to score the winning try and net a bonus point as well.
Connacht coach Pete Wilkins said they will need to quickly get over their bitterly disappointing loss and turn their attention to Bordeaux-Bègles in the Champions Cup next weekend.
“You know, we’ve talked all season about you getting what you deserve,” said Wilkins. “Yeah it's really frustrating. I think rugby is a game like that where there’s that many small moments and blocks in the game that if you get enough of them you come out on the right side of it.
“But you know what, I thought we deserved it, and I thought just the way we responded to Leinster’s positive periods of momentum, the way we responded to the yellow cards, the way we responded to the scoreboard when we went behind on that.
“I felt like we had done enough,” added Wilkins. “I think the biggest frustration is that we bounced back so well from those challenging moments within the game, not to get one final go of bouncing back, and that’s obviously the nature of the game but that’s something we’ll have to process. But incredibly proud.
“We’ve two huge games coming up in the Champions Cup so we’ll be disappointed but we’ll have to move on.”
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