Leinster's Leo Cullen pleased to be part of 'amazing event' despite heavy loss

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was keen to emphasise the positives after his side were put to the sword 41-19 by a rampant Bordeaux in the Investec Champions Cup final in Bilbao.

It’s Leinster’s fourth Champions Cup final loss in five seasons, but unlike previous iterations, this was a comprehensive, one-sided loss, with the contest effectively over by halftime as UBB punished repeated Leinster errors.

While Cullen acknowledged Leinster ‘weren’t good enough’ on the day, he was eager to dwell on what was an amazing occasion in the Spanish city.

“The game this week, we talked over the pitch there briefly,” said Cullen. “It was an amazing event, an occasion to be part of. You have that many Leinster fans in the north for an occasion like this, and it’s an incredible atmosphere there, isn’t it?

“Driving in to the ground over the last couple of days, you’re seeing the blue flags and jerseys everywhere. And there’s a really strong connection there with supporters, because there’s so many friends, family, and every person involved in the team will have a different gathering supporting them. So we know there’s that kind of feeling of togetherness.

“I think on one hand it’s an amazing thing to be a part of, but on the disappointing side, I think there’s a frustration there that we’ve created lots of opportunities in the game and haven’t been anywhere near as clinical as we might have been.

“On the flip side of that, you’ve got to say a massive well done to Bordeaux, because they have been insanely clinical in everything that they did.”

“Scoring five tries in the first half, we scored three tries in the game. We’ve lots of possession during the day, lots of territory during the day, but we’re just nowhere near clinical with what we had. And we’ve given away things just a little bit cheaply.

“So for the group there, it’s just joined together with an understanding of it’s another game, another final. But we push on to next week, because as you know, if we’d lost the game but won a knockout game at the end of this, we’d be talking about needing to go into a quarter-final next week, and we have the opportunity to do that.”

Cullen insisted it was case of Leinster creating opportunities, but failing to capitalise.

“So yeah, what are we thinking here today at the moment? There’s a certain reflection and going, geez, that was something pretty amazing to be part of. But the other main part of us is, like, you’d love a crack at playing the game again, because we think there’s lots of opportunities there we didn’t take,” said Cullen.

“But as I said, the most important thing is you’ve got to give credit to Bordeaux, because they’re just so sharp on things during the course of the first half in particular. Broken balls, scraps, are such a big part of the game then. I think they were just a good second quicker, unfortunately. And they made us pay, like they made us really pay. So that’s the bit we reflect on probably most.”

Cullen conceded the score got away from Leinster in the first half, with a yawning interval scoreline of 35-7.

“That’s just the way the game played out. It was a different final for us, for sure. But the unfortunate thing, the game just got away from us a little bit in the first half.

“There’s lots of great stuff in terms of trying to get back into the game. We scored a couple of good tries in the second half. We still left so many opportunities out there.

“We’ll reflect, the coaches and players now. We’ll go through what’s causing certain things. But it’s a pressure group out there, so yeah, it’s just very frustrating. Because you want to keep it tighter and hang in there, don’t you? Because you want to be ruthless in terms of execution, and we’re just not quite there.

“And again, credit Bordeaux, because on the flip side of that, they were clinical in everything they did. They denied us lots of different moments and came up with big turnovers on lots of different fronts. Again, they just showed the quality that they’ve had all year.

“But we just let the score get away from us in the first half, which is the point of your question.”