LEINSTER MAY BE out of contention in the Rainbow Cup after losing to Glasgow last night but head coach Leo Cullen insists there is still plenty to play for when they wrap up their season next week at home to the Dragons in a match that will see the return of some fans.
“It’s our last home game and we are hoping to have 1,200 people at the RDS, the first time we have had a crowd for a long, long time,” Cullen pointed out.
“The guys will be keen to put on a good show and they will also be keen to give the players who are leaving a good send-off.
“There is plenty of motivation for us regardless of whether there is anything tangible to play for. There is always something at stake, plenty for our guys to play for.”
The reality was that the raw niggle of the Glasgow game last night seemed to get under his players’ skin and they could not find a way to step above it.
Two disallowed tries for Hugo Keenan only added to their woes but, for all that, Cullen reckoned the Rainbow Cup has been a problem for his side from the start.
“The position of that first game made life pretty tricky,” he said. “We played Munster the week before the semi-final of Europe. We had had a big win against Exeter in the quarter-finals of Europe then we tried to manage some of our players in the round one game [of the Rainbow Cup] and then we lost the semi-final anyway. It was a costly two weeks and we have been chasing things since then.
“It was unlikely that we were going to make the final but the guys did want to go out and put on a good show [against Glasgow]. We are disappointed that we did not achieve that. It was a scrappy game that did not quite go our way.
“A lot of things we could control weren’t good enough, not accurate enough across the board – and an expensive penalty count as well.”
Add in a Leinster team with a lot of young blood, a fired-up home side ready to mix it in the dark areas and they struggled to keep a lid on their emotions.
“We definitely got sucked into the physical stuff,” Cullen admitted. “There were lots of different fracas and TMO checks – no real rhythm or flow to the game, which became quite stop-start and disjointed. We need to be better in terms of how we manage that.”
At home, with a crowd to impress and farewells to say, he is confident there won’t be a repeat next week.
Great to get through but it’s not the one we wanted, Roll on the Huns on Sunday
@Alan Brazil: Jesus Alan. We have something in common. Big game for the hoops
@Alan Brazil: same craic every year , start to improve after getting knocked out of champions league..still though would have got some spanking in the group they would been in , Barca ,Dortmund, inter . Gone are the glory days when they could get a champions league result . .
I don’t know what has gone on with Lennon and Sinclair. Sinclair good for 20 goals a season and he’s been frozen out in favour of Lewis Morgan.. Lennon seems to make stupid decisions, Celtic clearly through with 20 mins to go and he leaves all his star players on with an important game on Sunday. Edwaurd then goes off injured..
@David Garland: Stop your whinging, they won 4-1 what more do you want? Get behind Lennon and the team rather than complain
An away win in Europe is rare. A score line of 4-1 is unheard of. Good to see the holy goalie back in Glasgow.
A nice double on Sunday would be nice. Starting with the Celts and finishing with 5 in a row.
Hail Hail.
Up the Dubs.
It’s not whining wanting to know why one of our better players is not even making the bench. As I said Sinclair contributes around 20 goals a season and by the looks of Rangers this season Celtic could do with his goals, he’s a far better option that Morgan who shouldn’t be near a Celtic jersey..
Very poor performance but still put 4 goals on the board. Great going forward but my good God the backline is woeful. Whoever scouted Boli needs sacking, that lad is a bomb scare. Hopefully Lennon can get it right before the transfer window closes and get in a few decent signings for a change.
Played well, can they meet rangers in group?
@Dougal67: not until the knock out stages, teams from the same country are kept apart