'I've coached for a long, long time and I've never lost by this score'
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was pleased to see his side enjoy a free-scoring return to action in an 89-7 Heineken Champions Cup annihilation of Montpellier at the RDS Arena.
Having been without a game for five weeks – after a frustrating run of Covid-19-affected fixtures – Cullen’s charges blew off the cobwebs by scoring 13 tries, including braces from Josh Van Der Flier, Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan, for their biggest-ever European winning margin.
Leinster were forced to hand Montpellier a 28-0 walkover before Christmas, giving them a tougher route to the round of 16, so Cullen was thrilled with the intent shown by his players on Sunday.
“We’ve been waiting for this game for a while now. I think the guys applied themselves well over the last number of weeks, training-wise. It has been a frustrating period for all, but for us it was just about trying to control what we can,” he said.
“We know we’re sort of chasing the pool to a certain degree, so every point is so important for us now.
“We talked about the fact that we can’t afford any slip-ups going into the game and trying to maximise every single point from the game. I thought our guys did a pretty good job overall.”
Now on 10 points and safely nestled inside the top eight of Pool A, Leinster will once again be aiming for a maximum reward when they face Bath at the Recreation Ground next Saturday.
Cullen added: “We’re still chasing in terms of trying to climb up the seedings in the pool and Bath won’t make it easy for us next week.
“They’re a very, very proud club and going to the Rec is always challenging. For us it’s making sure we’re just ready for that challenge now, because it’s a short turnaround.”
In the days and weeks leading up to this contest, the Montpellier squad had been severely affected by a coronavirus outbreak within their camp.
With 2019/20 champions Exeter making the trip to Altrad Stadium for a fourth-round encounter next Sunday, the club’s director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre is hopeful of welcoming some big-name players back into the fold.
“More than 18 guys in my squad had Covid. We couldn’t play last week against Toulouse. Today we managed to have a team, but we changed the team three times during the week,” he admitted.
“We were struggling from the first minute to the last minute. I’ve coached for a long, long time and I’ve never lost by this score.
“I hope that next week I will have a lot of players back available.
“Today we finished with nearly all the back-line made up of Academy players against maybe the Irish international back-line. In the end it was men playing against boys.”
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Safas are so triggered by Ireland. 3 consecutive losses, incl RWC. 8 losses out of last 12 Tests. Always excuses, of course, with Bok fans. Now Rassie with his “88%” nonsense, the Claytons Excuse is an embarrassment to Bok teams of the past when every test mattered. Their fickle mojo will be on edge for the Ireland tour. Have the referees been appointed yet ? They will need security. Have WR laid out strict guidelines for TMO’s and replays on the stadium screens ? Will the constant stoppages from Bok forwards for cramps and bootlaces be tolerated ? We’re not talking a dominant Springbok team here, they won the LOTTO Cup and they know it whether they admit it or not. The Disney doco has their fans positively fermenting internally, its going to be a nasty hangover if they get beaten on home soil. What will the excuses be then……
Go to commentsGreat role model.
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