Champions Cup: Leinster boss Leo Cullen pleased with win over Toulouse but sees ‘room for growth’

Adam Kyriacou

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen believes there’s still room for improvement from his side despite their 40-17 victory over Toulouse in the Champions Cup.

The semi-final result saw James Lowe (two), Josh van der Flier and Hugo Keenan score as Leinster responded well after Antoine Dupont’s early crossing.

Johnny Sexton also added 15 points off the tee to seal a comfortable win that books their final spot, but Cullen thinks there is more to come from his men.

Good performance

“Credit to the lads, there was lots of really good stuff in the game. They threw the kitchen sink at them, but Toulouse, they hung in and hung in,” he said.

“They’re always a constant threat. You can see that in the first half, where we’re attacking in their 22, we lose possession and they’re gone the length of the field (for Dupont’s score). That constant threat was there the whole time.

“For our guys, I thought it was a good performance overall. There’s still room for growth as always, but to deliver a big performance in a semi-final, it’s pleasing.”

Leinster will find out their Champions Cup final opponent on Sunday when Racing 92 and La Rochelle meet in an all-French semi-final with Irish sprinklings.

Mike Prendergast is a crucial part of Racing 92’s coaching team while Ronan O’Gara is La Rochelle’s head coach, with Cullen looking forward to the contest.

“I was listening to Mike Prendergast yesterday, just talking about the desire of Racing to win a European star,” he added. “From their owners all the way through the club, it’s a big goal of theirs.

“We lost that semi-final against La Rochelle last year. We didn’t quite deliver our best performance on the day. At this stage of the tournament, you need to be delivering close to your best against the best teams in Europe.

“It’s a hugely exciting challenge, away against a French team regardless.”

In contrast, the defending champions are now out of the competition and Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola had no excuses as he praised Leinster’s performance.

“Today there are too many things that separated us from Leinster. We failed to stem the blue waves. We came across a much better team than us,” Mola said.

“You have to know how to learn from it. Leinster have been at the highest level for 20 years and the only time we beat them in the finals was at home.

“We know that to beat this kind of team, you have to be at your best. That was far from the case today in terms of freshness, speed, change of pace. Congratulations to this Leinster team who achieved an XXL performance.”

READ MORE: Champions Cup: Outstanding Leinster see off champions Toulouse to reach a sixth final