Ten From Ten Leinster Looking To Sign Off On A High

To use Leo Cullen’s own words, Leinster Rugby were “getting a bit of flak” in the early weeks of this season.

Well, that’s certainly not the case now in the wake of an outstanding run which has seen them win ten matches in a row in all competitions.

They are now looking to make it 11 out of 11 by beating Edinburgh Rugby at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday before heading into the Guinness Six Nations break.

It’s fair to say they didn’t make the best of starts to the defence of their Vodacom URC crown as they only managed one victory from their opening four matches.

But since then, they have won six in a row in the league to move up to third in the table, while they came out on top in all four of their Investec Champions Cup pool matches.

Reflecting on the turnaround, head coach Cullen said: “I have to applaud our players and staff because they’ve worked incredibly hard during these couple of months, where the group is getting a bit of flak maybe at the start of the season because we’re missing a lot of players and we just take it on the chin.

“It’s a credit to the characteristics that these guys show every day.”

Leinster’s latest triumph came against Connacht Rugby in Galway last weekend when they recorded a 34-23 bonus point victory to spoil the party on a night when a record 12,461 full house turned out at the Dexcom Stadium to mark the opening of the new Clan Stand.

“We knew it was going to be a huge occasion because it’s been in the calendar for a long time,” said Cullen.

“We were going down to a pretty hostile environment against a team that was going to be hugely motivated. So we knew it was going to be challenging.

“Connacht started the game a million miles an hour. They were flying into everything on both sides of the ball, like we thought they would.

“Credit to them for the way they went about the game. It was pretty tit for tat.

“It’s great when you come away from home, hostile environments, all the rest, and you get a bonus-point win.”

Now the attention turns to Saturday evening’s Vodacom URC clash with 12th-placed Edinburgh in Dublin.

Adding his thoughts, assistant coach Robin McBryde said: “After a difficult start, we’ve kept building week by week because it’s been a long block. It’s been good. We’ve got to finish the job now.

“I think everyone’s looking forward to having a break after Saturday. So it’s one final push really.

“Obviously, there’s a different feel, a different energy about the place this week, having lost the number of internationals who have gone to represent their country, which is always an honour.

“So different energy, different buzz around the place and everybody is getting excited for the weekend.”

They take on an Edinburgh team who suffered a home defeat to the Vodacom Bulls last weekend.

“I think they’ll be hurting after that result,” said former Wales hooker McBryde.

“They’ll be keen to finish this block on a high as well.

“It’s always good to finish on a victory before any sort of break because the result sits with you.

“So it’ll be tough enough. They’re a pretty cohesive bunch.

“We’ve just got to improve on certain aspects of the game from last Saturday and re-knuckle down.”