LEINSTER’S LEO CULLEN was relieved to emerge with a five-point haul from a testing URC encounter in Edinburgh to banish some of the lingering pain from an opening visit to Scotland last season.
Cullen’s men copped a 43-25 defeat against eventual champions Glasgow at Scotstoun last October, conceding seven tries and failing to muster a bonus point with only three of their own.
But they had a four-try bonus in the bag by the 58th minute on Friday at the Hive Stadium with Jordan Larmour and the returning Jamison Gibson-Park adding to first-half tries from Tommy O’Brien and Charlie Tector, before a fifth from Jack Conan gave them sufficient leeway to withstand a late Edinburgh rally and emerge with a 33-31 victory.
“Round One away last year is still so strong in my memory and getting nothing from it, so we’re delighted to get five points here,” Cullen said.
“Round One is always tricky for us in terms of trying to manage some players back in. But from a performance point of view, we’ll have to get a hell of a lot better.
“I thought we were just a little bit off in terms of the physical confrontation, particularly the first 20 minutes, with the try they scored, and then just before half-time when they repelled us when we were 5m out.
“They have a lot of power and seasoned internationals in their team, but there was much better intent in our actions in the second half and it was a strong period for us when we got three tries in 10 minutes.
“The last 20 minutes we probably should have been out of sight and we gave them lots of opportunities to keep attacking us. Edinburgh will probably be disappointed they didn’t capitalise more on some of the opportunities that we were giving them to a certain extent. There are things in our control there we can be better at, but overall we’re pleased.”
Cullen took heart from the displays of three academy players – hooker Guy McCarthy, lock Conor O’Tighearnaigh and centre Charlie Tector – making their first starts for the province.
“There is always an element of the unknown when you have academy guys starting,” he said.
“But they went well in the two pre-season games and it’s good to see them being rewarded and backing it up with decent performances.
“Charlie had a great bit of individual skill to deal with the high ball and then finish from 30m out. That was a pleasing moment.”
One downside was the early departure of wing O’Brien, who injured his hamstring in the act of scoring the first Leinster try after 15 minutes and had to be replaced.
O’Brien was one of six players on duty in Edinburgh – among 12 in all from Leinster – who was due to join up with the Emerging Ireland squad next week before departing for a three-match tour of South Africa.
O’Brien’s participation is now in doubt.
“Tommy did a hammy as he was running in for the try, so it doesn’t look great for him,” Cullen said.
“We’ll get him scanned probably tomorrow or Sunday.”
Others who will need to be assessed before next Friday’s home game against Dragons include prop Michael Milne, who hobbled off with an ankle issue, and flanker Scott Penny, who “took a bit of a stinger” late on.
But some Ireland internationals who toured South Africa in the summer are likely to be back in the selection mix, with others returning against Benetton on 5 October.
“We will be a bit lighter next week in terms of numbers, so we will be forced into some changes to a certain extent, and the same the week after with some guys coming back in who have taken more of the load in South Africa,” Cullen added.