leinster Overcome Ulster in Thrilling Inter-Pro,Cullen Calls for Consistency

leo Cullen praised the resilience of his Leinster players after they secured a second-half comeback victory against Ulster,winning 24-20 in a captivating Christmas inter-pro at Aviva Stadium. Tries from James Lowe and Dan Sheehan in the final quarter propelled the defending champions to a bonus-point win.

“I suppose we’re learning to win in a slightly different way,” Cullen commented after his side’s fifth consecutive win across all competitions. “Being nine points down last week and ten points down this week, and still finding a way to win, is great.”

however, Cullen acknowledged that these thrilling victories are masking underlying performance issues. Individual errors in the first half allowed Ulster to build a significant lead, scoring three tries and establishing a 17-7 advantage at halftime.

Cullen emphasized his mixed feelings about the performance,despite the positive result. “It is not the way you ideally want to play every week,” he stated.

He pinpointed a tendency for players to force plays rather than maintain patience. “guys are trying a little bit too hard at times, rather than just being patient. We can wear some of these teams down. So we’re trying a little bit too hard. And then suddenly we’re getting ourselves in trouble because we’re forcing things that are not necessarily on, and then Ulster scored three tries in the first half. And that gets us into that situation where we’re 10 points down.”

Cullen warned that such a pattern of slow starts and reliance on comebacks is unsustainable. “You’re not going to get away with that week on week. So we need to be better, clearly.There’s a couple of games now where we’ve been really good in patches, but we need to be more consistent.”

Key Takeaways

• Leinster secured a bonus-point win against Ulster,24-20,with a second-half comeback.
• Head Coach Leo Cullen praised the team’s resilience but stressed the need for more consistent performance.
• Individual errors in the first half allowed Ulster to take a commanding lead.
• Cullen believes Leinster players are sometimes trying too hard, leading to forced plays and errors.
• the coach warned that relying on comebacks is not a lasting strategy for success.