Toulouse hand Blues a reality check
LEO CULLEN says the days of settling for a losing bonus point in France are long over for Leinster and that they are bitterly disappointed to surrender their winning run following a 28-27 defeat in Toulouse. The Leinster head coach said the defending champions are now at a stage where they expect to win when they go to France, and that the key thing now is to come back after the November international break and get their Heineken Champions Cup campaign back on
track in the December doubleheader against Bath. ‘There would have been times when we would have settled for a losing bonus point away in France but the expectations of the group is higher now. We were coming here with a plan to win the game and it’s frustrating that things were in our control, we didn’t quite execute,’ said Cullen. ‘Now we play Bath back to back and both teams are going to be scrapping for everything, and we need to try and get it right. We need to make sure we’re clued in when we come back together again. ‘The challenge is that it’s such a break now. There’s lots of bits that can go on in between. So it’s almost like there’s a little bit of a parting after next week, and then the group comes back together for the next two games in Europe. ‘That’s a challenge for us, and one we need to get our heads around at some point.’ Cullen was disappointed with the sloppiness and inaccuracies which crept in after their landslide win over Wasps on the opening weekend. ‘We need to understand the challenge of coming away to France, and when you come off the back of a big win sometimes you develop some poor habits and we need to make sure that if we win a game well that we’re not developing bad habits and behaviours. ‘I think maybe one or two did creep into our game today, for whatever reason. We talked about it a lot but we didn’t quite execute enough, but again that’s the learning.’ Cullen paid tribute to Toulouse for the way they closed out the game to secure a priceless win for the most successful club in France. ‘I thought it was an unbelievable occasion,’ Cullen continued. ‘It is a special competition. You can see what it means to teams and to Toulouse today. Maybe it will spark something in our players’ minds as to what it would be like if we were to lose one or two more games in the competition.’