Scarlets next for Leo’s Leinster
LEO CULLEN’S love affair with the Champions Cup continued at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday as his Leinster side superbly pipped Saracens to the semi-final courtesy of a comprehensive 30-19 victory.
The former Leinster and Ireland lock won the competition on three separate occasions with his province when it was called the Heineken Cup and now Scarlets stand between him and a final.
Cullen had to plan without Co. Wicklow duo Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan who were both injured for the tie. Their team-mate Jonathan Sexton appeared to come in for special treatment from Saracens but 40-year-old Cullen felt that it suited his side who reaped the benefits from it.
“It’s tough on Johnny because he is being played off the ball a few times in the first half,” explained Cullen. “It’s hard for him not to get frustrated. I’ll have a look back at the game and some of those clips – there are three or four instances when he is being hit, played late off the ball.
“How that unfolds, okay, it is important to take all those things in the context of the game.”
With Saracens preoccupied with Sexton, it left vacancies for his colleagues and they took full advantage.
“Saracens had a big wall of defenders in midfield,” Cullen noted. “There was definitely space on the short side so it was about us keeping going after those short sides.
“They defended pretty hard on Johnny in the first half, they were playing him is the best way to describe it; they were going aggressively at him so there is going to be space for somebody else. It’s important that we get the balance in our game so we are not just reliant on him or any one player.”
Leinster will once again look to Sexton for inspiration in a few weeks time when Welsh side Scarlets come to town but Conan will be hoping to be fit and to play his part in helping Leinster to the final in Bilbao, Spain.