‘We do believe in what we are doing’ – Leo Cullen convinced he’s doing what’s best for Leinster despite criticism

A much-changed Leinster side will return to action against Connacht at the RDS this evening, with Cullen opting to rest the majority of those who featured in last weekend’s extra-time loss to Toulouse, with next week’s home URC quarter-final in mind.

Cullen’s job has been called into question in some quarters, and while he acknowledged the expectations in Leinster are high, he fully believes in the work happening in the province.

Jacques Nienaber previews Leinster v Connacht

“We have lost to two top French teams in the last three finals, hugely resourced, international-quality players and we have a lot of home-grown players. We need to make sure we are pushing those guys through,” said Cullen, who has named Sam Prendergast at out-half tonight.

“So, we do believe in what we are doing because we have young players who gather experience. Some of it is great, [and] some is painful like it was at the weekend.

“What do you want from the fans? We would ask them to go again. We have a sold-out game [tonight], which is amazing, but then it’s the Aviva in the knockout game, whether that’s on Friday or Saturday next week. After that, we could be literally anywhere. You want loyal backing [from the fans], and from us, we will deliver a performance.”

Cullen reiterated Leinster had come up short in Europe by narrow margins as he looks to put it to bed for now and win the URC.

“Listen, we get judged on whether you win it or you’re a loser,” he added.

“It doesn’t matter if we go out at the very end, like we did, or at the start. There are high expectations here, so we talk about that pressure all the time. I believe that’s a positive thing.

“The difference between the devastation of what we feel at the end of that game versus the elation of the drop goal [going over], that’s the thing that popped into my head at the end of the game and it’s the same thing now really.

“I thought James [Ryan] summed it up well in his post-match [interview]. Do you want to be in that position where you put yourself in that feeling of absolute agony and devastation? Of course you do. There is no part of us that doesn’t want to be there.

“You have to understand, there are critics of teams, there’s fans of teams, and the fans feel hurt as well. We fully acknowledge that. And when people are hurt, listen, we can all say things that sometimes you regret as well, so it’s about making sure that we stay tight as a group.

“We have the opportunity to turn the page to something [the URC] quite quickly, so we just need to focus on that and not feel sorry for ourselves at this moment in time. We will go back to focusing on how we deliver a performance, and hopefully, that will deliver what we want, which is ultimately silverware.”