Undeterred by their third consecutive loss in the finals, Leo Cullen and his fellow leaders voiced a strong belief in the capability of Leinster to bounce back from this recent blow, on their quest to secure a hard-to-get fifth star. Cullen, the head coach of Leinster who spearheaded the team to their initial three victories in this contest, dismissed the idea that his team ever let this final slip through their fingers and highlighted the minimal differences in the results of this recent final.
Cullen expressed a positive outlook about their performance. He praised Toulouse for their strong defences and described it as the key difference. He went on to comment on his team, expressing how proud he was of their efforts in constantly challenging Toulouse throughout the game. Despite the lack of pay-off, Cullen believes they gave it their all.
The head coach referred to an 80th-minute drop goal attempt by Ciarán Frawley, which barely missed the mark, to illustrate how close they were to victory. He acknowledged the disappointment of being on the losing end in recent times but stressed that their loss can be attributed to narrow decisions during the game, which unfortunately did not favour them.
Looking forward, despite the harsh reality of losing three finals in a row and no team ever making it to four consecutive finals, Cullen remained hopeful that his team has what it takes to come back stronger next season.
Surrounded by Caelan Doris, the captain of the day, and co-captain of the team James Ryan, Cullen characterized them as “the two young gentlemen beside me, both remarkable individuals, aged 25 and 27 respectively” and went on to express: “As a former player myself, it took considerable time to reach this pinnacle. For these two especially, currently leading the pack, we’ve worked persistently in this tournament for a long while and we’ve never made it to the finals if you recall. Hence, we have a unique kind of disappointment.
“However, it’s not as if we seem to lack the faith that we are capable of achieving this. We do have that faith. We just have to persist because I believe firmly that when they finally cross that finish line, which I have complete trust in them doing as a team, these two individuals will be at the forefront of that challenge for the foreseeable future.”
Despite the penalty count being in favour of Leinster by 16-15, Cullen’s remarks hinted at his dissatisfaction with some of Matthew Carley’s rulings, particularly the fact that out of the 15 penalties conceded, Toulouse were given opportunities for 10 goal shots.
Commenting on the high penalty count, Cullen responded humorously: “I’ll need to delve into the specifics and surely, we will review all those calls in the context of the overall decision-making process. We have the two teams and the referees in between and we’ll evaluate those decisions. However, our primary focus should be on aspects of the game within our control.
“There were some close calls during the match and given the dimensions of the field, the grant of a penalty on the halfway line means with the field just 95 meters long, all their goal kickers – indeed any goal kicker – comes into their range, and they deserve recognition for that. They proved slightly more proficient at seizing their chances, some of which were direct hits.”
Cullen stated that had Leinster converted any of their pressure or line breaks into tries, it would have put Toulouse on the back foot, while also acknowledging their strong defensive performance. He also confessed to being unsure as to Carley’s reasoning for calling a supposed knock-on before James Lowe’s conclusive move in the first half’s last moments.
Doris, having participated fully in the three previous final matches, confessed that this particular loss dealt the greatest blow. “It may be fresh in the mind and magnified somewhat by that, but the sense of pain feels very intense. The atmosphere in the changing room is one of total shock. Given our firm belief that we had a chance throughout the match, it stings. It stings quite badly.”
Echoing the sentiment, Ryan, who has also experienced the disappointment of three consecutive finals without a win, reinforced his coach’s take. “Our discussion in the changing room came down to this: ‘In the pursuit of greatness and remarkable achievements, there’s always a high-stakes gamble of monumental failure.’ You comprehend what I’m communicating, right?
“Would I rather be part of a squad that constantly strives to ascend to the pinnacle of European football at its own peril? I definitely would.
“Yes, the pursuit of glory comes with the peril of experiencing this kind of disappointment, but that’s simply the path we’ve chosen. Our ambitions are to secure championships and while the pain might be more intense at the moment, but as Leo pointed out, we just need to rebound. That’s how things are. Recover and fiercely compete in a new competition [the URC], aiming to do our best.”
His colleague, Cullen, expressing solidarity, nodded in approval.