Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'We'll sit back and watch with interest who we're going to play'

Leo Cullen (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Leinster boss Leo Cullen was full of pride after his team made it a record 16 consecutive wins in all competitions with an 18-0 Champions Cup victory over battling Benetton.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 18-point shutout away win – courtesy of second-half Caelan Doris and James Tracy tries – also confirms Leinster as number one seeds with a home quarter-final for the knockout stages of the competition.

It breaks the previous record for successive wins by a European side, set by Leinster in 2001/2002, as they look to win a record fifth European crown. “We’re delighted to get a win but we had to dig it out,” said Cullen.

“We talked before the game about how it was a relatively simple equation for us: we needed to win. After digging in, we weathered the storm and we started to have a lot more control in the game, especially in the second half.

“As the match went on, we played in the right areas of the field, put pressure on them and then got the penalty and a couple of tries. We got what we needed, so I’m delighted with that.”

(Continue reading below…)

Jim Hamilton discusses the quality of players currently playing in Japan’s Top League

Video Spacer

After remaining perfect in European competition this season with last weekend’s thumping of Lyon, Leinster knew a win in north-west Italy would mean a valuable home quarter-final come April.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was far from plain sailing in damp and difficult conditions against Benetton, who made life hard for the Irish province in the first half. But they failed to make their early possession and the brief man advantage – after Doris’ sin-bin – count.

Ross Byrne eased any Leinster jitters with a comfortable penalty in front of the posts just before the break. And with Irne Herbst carded for a deliberate knock-on soon after the restart, Leinster put their foot down.

Byrne kicked a second penalty before Doris scored the first try after captain Luke McGrath’s clever reverse pass. Replacement front row Tracy then followed up with a second after completing a neat rolling maul, with Byrne adding the conversion from out wide, which proved enough for Leinster to make it 16 from 16 this campaign.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cullen reiterated the importance of claiming a home quarter-final in the Champions Cup as they aim to go one better than last season’s final defeat to Saracens, who will be looking to advance themselves to the last eight when they play on Sunday.

“You try and control as much as you can and there is a statistical advantage of playing at home. It’s important we make it count, get a big crowd, which presumably will be at the Aviva Stadium. It’s very positive overall and now we’ll sit back and watch with interest who we’re going to play over the next day.”

– Press Association 

WATCH: RugbyPass have made something truly special with the Barbarians rugby team

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 40 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Joe Marler has sold England down the river – Andy Goode Joe Marler has sold England down the river – Andy Goode
Search