Cullen: To Keep Bulls Scoreless Before Half-Time Was A Big Lift

Leinster hit the Vodacom Bulls with 22 unanswered points, including first-half tries from captain Jack Conan, Jordie Barrett, and Josh van der Flier, on their way to a dominant 32-7 victory at Croke Park.

The table toppers set the tone with Conan and Barrett’s converted scores inside the opening 15 minutes, and limited the Bulls to just one try to show exactly why they had the best defensive record in the league this season – conceding an average of just 14 points per match.

Speaking about the collective effort that went into securing Leinster’s first trophy since 2021, Cullen said: “The players every time they put on a Leinster shirt, you want to see them representing the team to the best of their ability.

“If you go through the season, like we played 28 competitive games and managed to win 25 of them. So there’s lots of good work that goes (in) to getting you to this point.

“It’s always a challenge, like how do you manage the two competitions at the tail end, particularly when it comes to play-offs and big games. You have to deal with different disruptions, even this week there was a couple of disruptions in the team, and the same last week.

“That’s where you rely on a squad, and you’re up against very good teams as well. We talk about the power that the Bulls have, so for our guys, yeah, they were fully focused this week because they respect the Bulls so much, and it’s the quality of the competition that we have in the URC.”

Leinster benefitted from the return of both Garry Ringrose and van der Flier for the URC decider, but a dead leg saw Jamison Gibson-Park withdrawn from the starting XV, joining injured captain Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Hugo Keenan, and Robbie Henshaw on the list of notable absentees.

Luke McGrath slotted in at scrum half very effectively, his intelligent play summed up by the dinked kick which led to Barrett bursting downfield for his try, while full-back Jimmy O’Brien, outshining his opposite number Willie le Roux on Saturday, played all 240 minutes of the play-offs.

In Furlong’s absence, the increasingly prominent Thomas Clarkson has finished the campaign very strongly with eight starts at tighthead since the end of March. He made his presence felt, along with player-of-the-match Ryan Baird, as the home pack gained the upper hand on the Bulls.

Producing the goods in the first ever rugby final to be held at Croke Park made it even more of a memorable occasion for this Leinster group, as Cullen remarked: “Being here is unbelievably special. We feel very lucky.

“The atmosphere I thought was incredible all day. What we touched on before the game, to get the privilege to play here in a final is phenomenal. Delighted for everybody, the players, staff. Big thanks to the support we’ve had.

“(I’m a) Wicklow man. Kicking points over gates in fields as a kid, to think you’re involved with a team here in a final is amazing.

“I thought we started the game well, scored a few good tries early on, but probably the most pleasing bit was that defensive set which went on for about 10 minutes, at the end of the first half.

“To keep the Bulls to nil going into half-time was a big lift for the team, I thought. It was two really good teams going at it. We’ve been there like the Bulls, standing there watching other teams do trophy lifts.

“So, a lot of reward for so much hard work during not just this season, but in previous seasons as well. We’ll look back and reflect as we always do over the course of the season, and build again. But for now, it’s just about enjoying the moment.”

Cullen won four league titles as a player with Leinster, and this is now his fifth as their head coach, following on from the province’s quartet of PRO14 successes between 2018 and 2021.

Their maiden triumph of the URC era carries even more weight with this being the fourth year that South Africa’s big four franchises, the Bulls, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, the DHL Stormers, and the Emirates Lions, have competed in the cross-border competition.

After three successive URC semi-final defeats, including two at the hands of the Bulls, and with their painful Investec Champions Cup exit only six weeks ago, this was an important win for Leinster to welcome a new addition to their trophy cabinet in the form of the uniquely-designed, 20-kilogram ‘The Array’.

Speaking about ending their four-year wait for a trophy, Cullen acknowledged: “It’s great for everybody. The supporters is the big thing, I think.

“Like normally when you’re in the Aviva (Stadium), obviously you’re in a glass box as a coach, so you don’t really quite often get the sense of the occasion so it was an amazing atmosphere.

“It’s a very difficult competition to win because of just the nature of the way the season is, and there’s a lot of great teams involved in. The South African teams have been an amazing addition to the tournament.

“The way you guys (in the media) write, the losers of a final suddenly are failures. Whereas you get to the last two teams in a competition, and I think you need to be able to celebrate the two teams that are in the final.

“Obviously we’ve been on the flip side of that in the past, (losing finals) at different stages. Does that deem us failures? I personally don’t think it’s a failure.”

As well as giving retiring great Cian Healy and their departing players a title-winning send-off, Leinster ensured that their British & Irish Lions and Ireland squad members, with 12 in each touring party, will head into their respective camps with an extra spring in their step.

For those involved, the 2024/25 season will extend into July, and early August for some with the Lions’ third and final Test against Australia taking place in Sydney on Saturday, August 2.

The Leinster coaching staff will watch on with great interest, particularly with the province supplying ten first-time Lions tourists, and Tommy O’Brien, Paddy McCarthy, and Stephen Smyth hoping to make their Ireland debuts against either Georgia or Portugal next month.

Cullen added: “Listen, we win today, it’s great, but we move on to the next challenge and that will be…we’ll watch the guys that are on tour with Ireland and the Lions.

“That’s a big part of what we obviously want to try and do as well. Push guys on to play at the next level, internationally and beyond.

“So we’re excited to watch that over the next while, although the rest of us will take a bit of a break. Put the feet up for a while, and spend time with family and loved ones and friends.”