'Munster were a hell of a lot better than us' - Cullen laments Leinster 'wake-up' call

There's a lot to figure out in Leinster after just one win from their first four games of an already disrupted season 

BRUISING NIGHT: Sam Prendergast of Leinster reacts as Munster are awarded a penalty try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

No beating about the bush from Leo Cullen on Saturday night. The Leinster head coach laid it straight. His lads had been “sub par” in a 17-point URC defeat to Munster that he described as a “wake-up call” for the province.

The 31-14 loss leaves them with just one win from their opening four games in a season disrupted by late-returning British and Irish Lions, and with 21 of their squad now departing for the USA where they will be on Ireland duties.

There’s a lot to figure out in Leinster.

“It comes down to: we have plenty of territory, we have plenty of possession, probably a lot more than they had,” said Cullen. “But we've come out of the other end of a 31-14 loss, which is a tough one to take. But it's a good wake-up for the group, isn't it?

“We had a group that was out in South Africa, and we have a cohort of the Lions guys [back since]. It's always going to be a bit of a sticky start to the season for us. We've talked about it over the last while and now we're seeing it unfold.

“You talk about it and hope that that's not going to be the case, but you're marking everyone's card, our own in particular. We've still got to go through it and we weren't good enough today. But the big thing is composure, taking opportunities.

“Munster were a hell of a lot better than we were.” 

 Munster, he said, had heart and grit and determination in spades. That was typified by Tadhg Beirne who was sensationally good – even by his standards – despite playing his first match since the Lions tour and despite having surgery to an elbow since.

Josh van der Flier had given an immense performance the week before on his first game back since that Lions tour but the hope that others would follow his lead as more summer tourists returned for this interpro went unfounded.

Not being at full pelt is one thing given those exertions but it was put to Cullen that the manner in which they had been outfought might be the biggest concern to arise from this rare reversal at Munster’s hands.

"You've got to understand, to get to the pitch of a game, you've got to play some games. A lot of those guys for Munster, listen, they've played at least two of the three URC games and some of them played in the warm-up games before so that battle-hardened piece.

“We’re just not battle-hardened at the moment. It is what it is. I'm not sure exactly what the solution is for us moving forward, how we get to that physical pitch and speed of playing games.

“We need to analyse what we do there for future seasons because what we've done this year clearly hasn't worked out. We've lost three of the last four games.”