A good old-fashioned cup rugby win. That was a statement put to Leinster head coach Leo Cullen in the aftermath of the province’s 20-11 URC semi-final win over the Stormers at the Aviva Stadium.
The short answer is yes. Cullen opted for a slightly deeper dive. “I thought the lads started unbelievably well. As you get into a 13-0 lead, we don’t quite deal with a restart, as in our exit. I wasn’t sure if Evan Roos played the ball on the ground or not.
“The ball pops out and then, listen, when the Stormers are down near the 22, you can see the power that they have. And eventually they get in for a score themselves, which gets it to 13-5. We had some chances before half-time.
Leinster into another final, but are their fans buying into their URC run?
“There was probably a period there, [when we were] five metres out with penalties and I’d agree with the call for the tap-and-go. They were on a warning at that stage as well. And then, we’re just not quite clinical enough in terms of some of our execution there. You’ve got to give credit to Stormers.
READ MORE
“They’re unbelievably physical. You’ve got to give them credit for some very resolute defence; they get a turnover and hack the ball away.”
The focus at half-time – after a bit of a fracas in the tunnel – in the Leinster dressingroom was to regroup and go again. It didn’t quite pan out as the Stormers outhalf Jurie Matthee kicked two penalties and at 13-11, it was very much game on.
Cullen admitted: “Credit to the players that they stuck at it incredibly well because it’s a proper arm-wrestle at that stage. Jamison [Gibson-Park] gets his try and we get a nine-point lead. And they’ve lost a couple of guys to the bin, which makes it a bit harder for them to chase the game.
“They’re a team laden with quality and physicality. It was a serious battle for us out there. Huge credit to the players. I thought they were exceptional in terms of how they stood up to some of the physical exchanges out there.”
Andrew Porter suffered a calf injury that ended his match after 21 minutes, and looked disconsolate walking off, while Caelan Doris and Josh van der Flier also picked up knocks, but the latter two should be okay.
