{"id":225054,"date":"2025-10-19T12:02:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T12:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225054\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T12:02:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T12:02:18","slug":"leo-cullen-not-sure-of-way-forward-for-leinster-after-shock-start-to-urc-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225054\/","title":{"rendered":"Leo Cullen \u2018not sure\u2019 of way forward for Leinster after shock start to URC season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leinster<\/a> head coach Leo Cullen admitted he is \u201cnot sure\u201d of the way forward for his side after their shock 31-14 defeat to Munster<\/a> at Croke Park.<\/p>\n

The result that leaves the reigning URC champions with more losses after four rounds than in the whole of 2024\/25 season, with a solitary win over the Sharks<\/a> all they have to show for a rough couple of weeks in the compeition.<\/p>\n

Despite an early Leinster score from Ronan Kelleher<\/a>, Munster\u2019s defence and physical edge told.<\/p>\n

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CATCH UP NOW<\/a><\/p>\n

\"VideoSophie Lloyd\u2019s Medley Rocks Twickenham | WRWC 2025 Final | RPTV<\/p>\n

Witness guitar virtuoso Sophie Lloyd set the stage alight at the Rugby World Cup 2025 Finals with an electrifying medley of Bon Jovi\u2019s \u201cLivin\u2019 on a Prayer\u201d and the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 \u201cPump It\u201d.
Filmed live at one of sport\u2019s biggest nights, this special showcase captures the spirit of rugby and rock in perfect harmony.<\/p>\n

Clayton McMillan\u2019s men outmuscled the reigning URC champions with tries from Brian Gleeson<\/a>, Tom Farrell and Ethan Coughlan<\/a>, plus a penalty try to boot. A late Scott Penny<\/a> consolation try couldn\u2019t paper over what was an embarrassing evening for the champs in front of 51,859 punters at the home of the GAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we started the game okay. We scored a good try at the start. Munster come back into it, we don\u2019t exit effectively, and hence they\u2019re down our end. They do well from a close-range try and they get over. We were probably in that position 12 times in the game where we don\u2019t get over, because we\u2019re chasing the game,\u201d said Cullen.<\/p>\n

United Rugby Championship <\/p>\n

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\"Stormers\"\/ <\/p>\n

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19 <\/p>\n

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\"Munster\"\/ <\/p>\n

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\"Glasgow\"\/ <\/p>\n

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\"Cardiff <\/p>\n

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\"Ulster\"\/ <\/p>\n

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0 <\/p>\n

0 <\/p>\n

15 <\/p>\n

6 <\/p>\n

\"Bulls\"\/ <\/p>\n

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14 <\/p>\n

7 <\/p>\n

\"Benetton\"\/ <\/p>\n

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9 <\/p>\n

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\"Zebre\"\/ <\/p>\n

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9 <\/p>\n

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\"Edinburgh\"\/ <\/p>\n

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\"Lions\"\/ <\/p>\n

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12 <\/p>\n

\"Leinster\"\/ <\/p>\n

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\"Ospreys\"\/ <\/p>\n

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3 <\/p>\n

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Munster\u2019s clinical edge proved decisive, with Cullen lamenting his team\u2019s lack of composure in the red zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a chance before half-time to score, where Munster are scrapping and fighting for everything and you\u2019ve got to give them a huge amount of credit for the way they went about things. They were able to hold us out before half-time. We started the second half pretty well, I thought, and were in a good position. We have a lineout and we have lots of these pick-and-go opportunities close to the try-line.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Munster are just so effective and we\u2019re just lacking a bit of composure there. Is that because it\u2019s the first game of the season for a lot of guys or whatever that is? Or is it Munster are very good and we\u2019re just not quite accurate enough? There\u2019s a few different factors there at play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leinster now find themselves outside the top eight after three defeats in four games \u2014 a scenario almost unthinkable given their dominance in recent URC campaigns. For Cullen, the issue goes beyond form.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good wake-up for the group. We had a group that was out in South Africa, and we have a cohort of the Lions<\/a> guys. It\u2019s always going to be a bit of a sticky start to the season for us. We\u2019ve talked about it over the last while and now we\u2019re seeing it unfold. You talk about it and hope that that\u2019s not going to be the case, but you\u2019re marking everyone\u2019s card, our own in particular. We\u2019ve still got to go through it and we weren\u2019t good enough today.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the big thing is composure, taking opportunities. Munster were a hell of a lot better than we were. We\u2019re just not battle-hardened at the moment. It is what it is. I\u2019m not sure exactly what the solution is for us moving forward. How we get to that physical pitch and speed of playing games.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 21 players now departing for Ireland<\/a> camp, Cullen faces the prospect of fielding a makeshift side next weekend against Zebre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge for us in the short term is we have a cohort that are going to be gone next week and we\u2019re playing Zebra at the Aviva. I\u2019d love to be coming into the press here talking about a big performance here and sending guys off into national camp, and talking about the group that we have getting ready to play against Zebre<\/a> and the opportunity that\u2019s there for a number of players. We\u2019ll have a number of guys making their debut next week, but unfortunately, I\u2019m talking about how we were sub-par today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leinster boss gave credit to Munster for simply wanting it more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard Clayton [McMillan] talk about hard work, grit, and determination. They showed that in spades, didn\u2019t they? Whereas we were second in hard work, grit and determination and we just need to take that on the chin and be better next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cullen pointed to the uneven pre-season as a factor but accepted that the current model isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always going to be a bit of a sticky start to the season for us. We\u2019ve talked about it over the last while and now we\u2019re seeing it unfold. You\u2019ve got to understand, to get to the pitch of a game, you\u2019ve got to play some games. A lot of those guys for Munster, listen they\u2019ve 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\u2019re just not battle hardened at the moment. It is what it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure exactly what the solution is for us moving forward. How we get to that physical pitch and speed of playing games. Listen, we need to analyse what we do there for future seasons because what we\u2019ve done this year clearly hasn\u2019t worked out. We\u2019ve lost three of the last four games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cullen was also candid about Leinster\u2019s lack of ruthlessness compared to Munster\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing. It\u2019s disappointing for the fans who turn out to watch. I\u2019m disappointed we didn\u2019t give a better account of ourselves for sure because we\u2019re down that end of the field, we\u2019re doing everything bar getting that last one or two metres. How many times do we get held up versus Munster take the corner and they get in for that try, which looks relatively easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the position, probably 12 sequences where you might have five to six carries that are similar to that, so if I\u2019m looking back at the review, that\u2019s what I would be looking at, first and foremost. Why are these guys that bit hungrier than us? Some of that can be hard to put your finger on. It\u2019s making sure that we all try and own it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good wake-up for the group, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leinster head coach Leo Cullen admitted he is \u201cnot sure\u201d of the way forward for his side after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-225054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}