'You just want to kick the boot into us, don’t you?' - Testy Cullen defends Leinster's resolve

The province's supremo would dearly love to hear less of the criticisms and more support as they look towards a record ninth final appearance in Bilbao this month.

ALL SMILES: Rieko Ioane of Leinster and head coach Leo Cullen after the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and RC Toulon at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The emotional toll of watching his Leinster team scrape through another Champions Cup knockout tie was stitched into all five minutes and 53 seconds of Leo Cullen’s answer at the start of his post-match press conference on Saturday evening.

The province had barely survived the day against a Toulon team that had found itself 18 points down with just 13 minutes to go before a stirring rally brought them to within five and one agonising missed pass for the try that would have claimed a famous win for them in Dublin.

It was the most dramatic of end games and a thriller perfectly in keeping with Leinster’s recent history in a tournament where they have lost three finals and a semi-final in frustrating fashion and by a combination of just 16 points.

The first question was the easiest of tee-ups: what he made of the game and, in particular, that last ten minutes.

“Naturally you try and protect things don’t you? Where the other team is, they’ve no protection, they’re throwing everything at you. We were sitting in this room this time last year, we were in that situation, we were throwing everything at Northampton.

“Listen, (Henry) Pollock gets a poach and it should have been a penalty, but nobody wants to report about it after. We should have had a penalty try and nobody wants to report on it. You just want to kick the boot into us, don’t you?

“And that’s the way it goes. The way I would see a semi-final is there are two teams going at it and there is a winner and loser and it’s not to kick the team that loses. I thought Toulon were amazing to go at it until the very end.

“They’re decided on the tightest of margins, semi-finals. You think back to semi-finals, we were away in France in 2012 and Wesley Fofana knocks the ball over the try line, and that’s how we get to a final, it wasn’t anything that we did.” 

Cullen’s point on the difficulty of winning this tournament is valid despite the dilution of the overall quality in the last 15 years, and he would dearly love to hear less of the criticisms and more support as they look towards a record ninth final appearance in Bilbao this month.

“I would be very kind to Toulon because they showed great spirit to the very end. It’s what you want and it’s why we love this tournament. We want to put ourselves in this situation every year but it’s not easy because you’re up against these juggernauts of teams.

“The first time Leinster have ever beaten Toulon today. We’ll keep battling, we know it will be tough in a final.

“I have to applaud the players for the desire throughout the season to want to put themselves back in this situation because, listen, you guys love throwing the boot into us, don’t you? You guys love throwing the boot into us when things don’t go well, whatever sells, because you read plenty of it.

“You’d love if everyone got behind the team now when you’re up against juggernauts of the game because it is not easy doing it, is it? We’re the only Irish province left in the competition, but the group will still continue to do what we do. It’s not always pretty, but we’re up against some serious teams. It’s insanely hard to win this competition.” 

 Cullen had encouraging news on the injuries Leinster picked up in the winning of this semi-final.

Robbie Henshaw and Josh van der Flier both left the field after head knocks and will go through return-to-play protocols. Jack Conan hobbled off with a knee injury but was in “bullish” form about it afterwards. Tommy O’Brien’s issue was cramp.

“Jamo (Gibson-Park) shipped a couple of knocks. You could see they were targeting him right from the very start of the game but Jamison is made of tough stuff. He managed himself through the game. Generally, I think the lads are not bad.”