Leo Cullen explain thinking behind picking 'first team' for Munster game
Munster coach Ian Costello felt his side's performance was better than the previous game - when they beat Ulster.
Leinster posted a bloodless bonus-point win over Munster, Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris all crossing.
It was a debilitating outing for Munster who huffed and puffed but were unable to finish off when close to the opposition, their one try coming from Tom Ahern.
The Leinster gamble on selecting an almost full-strength side had paid off
“I just thought in our last game against Clermont, we looked a little bit jaded perhaps," said Leo Cullen afterwards.
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"That’s obviously easy to say post-event, but it’s difficult in terms of coming off four Test matches and you’re into two big Champions Cup games.
“It’s like six Tests in many ways, isn’t it? But anyway, we have come through that. Clermont are an unbelievably nuggety team. You probably saw that if you watched their La Rochelle game at the weekend as well, how they are able to stick in there.
“So, I think it was important that they guys got a bit of time to freshen up. The pleasing part is they hit the ground running when they come in on Monday, and you’re seeing guys with really good energy out there. It’s good, I might have to consider that again for them.”
Munster coach Ian Costello felt his side's performance was better than the previous game - when they beat Ulster.
"Last week, our ball retention was poor and some areas of our attack that are usually strong were off. I know we got four really good tries but we had 30 percent possession.
"It was closer to 50 percent tonight and still made errors but I thought our intent was good. You would have seen that we looked to kick early and we looked to turn them, get the crowd into the game.
"We put a lot of emphasis on our kick chase and got some great return out of that.
"Unlucky that one kick went dead but we had a particular change-up to the way we were playing and I suppose as positive as that was, if we don't convert when we get within five metres of the line against a side like Leinster, then they convert when they're five metres out, that can be immaterial."
Cullen admitted team selection had been with the upcoming European game against Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle in mind.
That he considered the 'away' game and the 'Munster' unit as good preparation.
"We have an unbelievable challenge in the Champions Cup then going up against La Rochelle away, which will be a great test for us. We will see how they are tracking over the next couple of weeks.
“Again, going back to what we can control is how we prepare, we’ll go over there and try and give a good account of ourselves.”
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