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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully & Michael Turnbull

'We can't dwell on it too much' Leo Cullen on Leinster's disappointing URC defeat

LEO Cullen acknowledged that Leinster's risky business in terms of selection came up short in the URC semi-final.

But he insisted his squad must move on quickly with their biggest game of the season only a week away against La Rochelle.

The Blues boss made nine changes from the Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse for last week's URC quarter-final against the Sharks - and a further seven for this deserved 16-15 defeat to Munster, as close as it was.

READ MORE: Leinster 15-16 Munster recap and result as Crowley steals it at the death


Cullen admitted that Leinster's 10 penalty concessions to Munster's five was a problem.

But, having watched his side come within two minutes of making the final, he added: "The challenge with some of the selection is around some of the cohesion. We knew we were taking a bit of a risk with that.

"We talked about the challenge of trying to fight on two fronts and unfortunately we have come unstuck with it today.

"For us, now, we can’t dwell on it too much. That’s the reality. We can’t dwell on it this week because we’re out again next weekend against La Rochelle here.

"They will be desperate to retain their trophy so it’s two teams going hard at it again and hopefully it will be a great occasion.

"That’s what we have to look forward to now. There are lots of things in that game that we can be better at but it’s over now. You’ve got to give Munster credit. They stuck to it right to the end.”

Cullen added: "We had guys coming back in at this stage of the year as well and that’s the challenge for us. Yeah, it didn’t quite go our way.

"We were very close to it, very close to closing out the game. It’s disappointing we weren’t quite able to do that but again you have to give credit to Munster.

"There’s two teams fighting right to the very end, they nail their opportunity at the death and we don’t get another chance.

"We were very, very close to winning a semi-final. Unfortunately not today. Again, back to that cohesion part. They had a more settled group there today and that’s a call that we made and we have to accept the consequences of that now."

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