Leinster aiming to ‘deliver on the big stage’

The Irish province remain in the hunt for a fifth title in EPCR’s elite competition after a commanding 55-24 success over Leicester Tigers in Dublin last Friday.

Cullen asserted after the game that a similar performance will be required when they welcome five-time champions Stade Toulousain to the Aviva Stadium in the semi-finals on April 29.

“For us, it’s trying to deliver on the big stage; that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s about delivering on the big days, on the semi-final.

“If you get through that game, delivering on the next game, whatever that’s going to be.”

Cullen warned that Leinster must strike a balance between the Heineken Champions Cup and their domestic responsibilities as they also chase success in the BKT United Rugby Championship (URC).

“It’s an unusual sequence of games because we know we have a semi-final but we actually have a quarter-final of the URC after that, which is an unusual dynamic and how everyone navigates that part of the season.

“We know we’re in the semi-final and a week after the semi-final, we’re playing a quarter-final of a different competition.

“How that gets navigated is going to be tricky but we know we have those couple of games.

Centre Garry Ringrose earned praise from Cullen for his two-try, Heineken Star of the Match effort in Leinster’s win over Leicester, but the boss also applauded the contributions of his entire squad.

“He was phenomenal really, wasn’t he? His ability to beat defenders, some of his lines of running. He was exceptional, I thought,” he said.

“It’s a 23-man game and I thought our guys, the bench all added in their different ways, which was good. Overall, we are pleased to be through to the next round.”

Leinster have been Heineken Champions Cup runners-up twice in the last four seasons and are more motivated than ever to secure a fifth trophy this campaign.

Cullen, who was involved in Leinster’s first three title wins as a player before coaching them to a fourth in 2018, explained that his determination to succeed stemmed from the glories of interprovincial rivals Ulster Rugby and Munster Rugby.

“We were watching other provinces lift European Cups, Ulster in the late 90s, and that’s off the back of Ulster winning 10 Interpros in a row,” he said. So, that’s my formative years of watching rugby which was complete domination by Ulster.

“More recently, if you think about that period in 2003; Munster were the dominant province in Ireland, weren’t they? We got beaten by Perpignan that day 20 years ago.

“I have that programme somewhere, I can tell you exactly where it is; it’s on my desk. They stick in the memory. People have short memories, unfortunately I have a long one.

“It’s hard work, there’s no secret to success. You’ve got to have guys who are willing to put in hard work and the minute you get complacent there’s somebody else waiting to take your spot.”