LEINSTER TOOK THE points last night but Connacht dominated the post-match discussion following Mack Hansen’s strong comments about officiating in the URC.

The Connacht winger used the post-match press conference to address what he feels is ongoing unfair treatment towards the province.

Hansen explained how his feelings on the topic have been bubbling away ‘for years’ and used examples from last night’s interpro to highlight his point. The 26-year-old referenced a high shot from Jordie Barrett on Bundee Aki which was not reviewed by the match officials, and compared it to an incident between Connacht out-half Josh Ioane and Leinster hooker Gus McCarthy which was replayed multiple times, with Leinster awarded a penalty and Ioane avoiding a card.

Speaking to the media after Hansen had made his comments, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was asked about the Barrett/Aki incident but felt the right decision had been made at the time. 

“I saw the cleanout but I didn’t think there was that much in it to be honest,” said Cullen.

“And that’s the game. There’s a cleanout and the windows where you can enter are so small. I saw the incident and I didn’t think there was that much in it.” 

Overall the Leinster boss was pleased to see his team edge what threatened to become a sticky evening at the Aviva. Having built up a 17-0 lead, with included a 14-0 return from the first half, Leinster saw Connacht come back to make it a five point game before the home side finished on top to win by eight.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

The opening 40 wasn’t a great watch but Cullen felt his players admirably dealt with the challenges that came their way. Leinster lost Jack Conan to injury after just 22 minutes, with his replacement, Max Deegan, then leaving for a HIA.

Those in-game changes added to the 13 switches Cullen had made to the starting XV for Clermont last weekend. Cullen added that the province also had to adjust their selection in the days before the Connacht game after losing some players to injury. 

“They’re (Connacht) going flat out. Like, we want to try and play positive, and they made the breakdown quite messy, rewarded a couple of times in those first 15-20 minutes, but then held our composure pretty well I thought.

“Andrew (Osborne) gets in for a nice try, which is great for a young academy player. Then Charlie Tector gets in for a try.

“Then we have to deal with a bit of disruption. So obviously Jack (Conan) goes off, he gets replaced by Max Deegan, and then Max goes off as well. So that was a little bit messy, obviously Alex (Soroka) wouldn’t have repped at 8, so you lose two 8s… We have to deal with that.

“And listen, to be fair to the players, you have a number of academy players in the 23, even during the course of the week we had a bit of disruption with a couple of guys pulling out as late as yesterday. So we’re really pleased with how everyone adapted to the game.”

Yet Leinster will be frustrated with how Connacht made such a contest of the second half. Discipline became an issue as Leinster’s penalty count crept up – coming to a total of 14 – with Lee Barron and Jimmy O’Brien both shown yellow cards.

“It wasn’t perfect, Connacht came back very strong in the second half and they have a strong lineup there, pretty much fully loaded.

“We’re pleased with the way we stood up, even though it wasn’t perfect. We lose a guy when Lee comes on, he goes to the bin and we had that period where we were just giving away a few penalties, we’re just trying a little bit too hard I thought at times. Even Jimmy’s one at the end, it’s a little bit needless, isn’t it? And then you lose another player, and it’s an over-eagerness to get to that space which makes the last few minutes then a bit helter skelter as well.

“But in fairness, it was nice that we broke out at the end with 14 players and we’re able to play that last minute or so up the other end of the field and Ross [Byrne] does well to kick that penalty at the end which gives a bit of breathing space with an eight point lead again.

“Derby game, it has a bit of everything. We’re pleased to come away with four points because we just have to deal with a lot of disruptions this time of year. There’s no way around it.”