'I just find that so frustrating and ignorant' - Williams debunks Cullen myth
Rugby pundit Matt Williams has decried the 'ridiculous fallacy' around Leinster head coach Leo Cullen, who he rates as one of the best indigenous Irish coaches of the professional era.
Leinster hammered Bath 64 - 7 in another masterful Heineken Champions Cup performance, a result which could see them through to next round despite the fact that were forced to ship a 28 - 0 loss on paper after their second round clash with Montpellier was cancelled by the EPCR.
Leinster are on fire again in Europe and the bookies have made them favorites for the competition, ahead of fellow European heavyweights Toulouse, Racing 92 and La Rochelle.
Yet despite their triumphs, the soft-spoken Cullen remains a relatively uncelebrated figure despite being the top dog in arguably Ireland's most successful sporting franchise.
Former Scotland coach turned commentator Williams suggested there's a perception that the Cullen regime at the province is coat-tailing on the coaching of Stuart Lancaster - an idea he describes as 'ignorant'.
"He is probably the most outstanding indigenous Irish coach of the professional era as far as results go, cups and trophies in cabinets," Cullen said on Virgin Sport. "There is this ridiculous fallacy that he sits up in his office drinking coffee and Stuart [Lancaster] does all the coaching. I just find that so frustrating and ignorant."
Cullen, who won 221 caps for Leinster and was captain of three Heineken Cup-winning squads, took over as head coach at the start of the 2015/16 season, a period in which the province won four Pro14s and a Heineken Champions Cup.
"He pulls that coaching team together to win games. He has got his own style of doing that. To think that Leo doesn't know what is going on or someone else is running it, that's just plain ignorance.
"There are a whole load of ways to coach. Rod Macqueen and Ian McGeechan, they weren't technically on the field doing it, they had other like Jim Telford doing all the technical work for McGeechan.
"There are a whole lot of ways up the mountain. He has taken that team in a way up the mountain that is quite brilliant. He deserves a lot more praise from the Irish public."
Cullen signed a one-year rolling contract extension last March. Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson confirmed the club had offered Cullen a two-year deal, which he did not take up for personal reasons.
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They also use a far more consistent scale.
Rugby pass seem to have a different scale for each player based on the authors expectations or how much he likes them.
Can't fathom how Moodie and Reece both were a 3.
Go to commentsYes for sure, thanks for sharing. I fully understand that both parties are better off, no one needs to lose, neither competition suffers, in fact both can be better as a result.
Too many true rugby fans (and analysts) don't understand that.
I wouldn't imagine there is a date aye. It was a long decline rugby in SA and Australia was going through, and was so bad it even effected NZ, caused them to argue to can a couple of teams. The nation of SA probably grew into it? I know I watch more of the NH now specifically because of the SR teams playing there. I actually had to mention to Nick Bishop (because of his stubborn perspective) the other day that I've never been a fan of Super Rugby, I don't think they chose the right way to go about professionalism back in 1995. Unfortunately, NZR was stuck between a rock and a hard place, because it had SA's and Australians that ran their unions by States, so we had to separate into "two or three" teams as a result. Our game is in the kak now because of it, they want to kill off the lifeblood of our National Provincial Championship. But now we might see a way out of it, so it's all good.
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