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Leintster head coach Leo Cullen admitted that his team’s 35-19 Heineken Champions Cup win over Northampton was more nervous than expected after losing two players before kickoff.
While Leinster landed through Josh Murphy, Cian Healy, Dave Kearney and Jamison Gibson-Park for a second straight bonus points win, Cullen admitted it was a serendipitous encounter for the most part.
Their plans were significantly interrupted by the pre-game retirements of Caelan Doris and Harry Byrne from the team, with calls from the bench for Murphy and Byrne’s older brother Ross.
Cullen explained: “We started the game well, but it was a bit disjointed after that. Even though we got a win and a bonus point, I think the guys in the locker room are scratching their heads about what really happened there for the last few hours. “.
He also mentioned an incident between Northampton wing Tom Wood and his opposite number Josh Van Der Flier during the fourth quarter.
Wood appeared to catch the Irish international in the head area as he tried to pull him out of a ruck, but referee Pierre Brousset called it an “accidental collision”.
“I know there is some level of head / face contact, but I haven’t lowered that to look at it again,” said the Leinster boss.
“It looks like it has some level of wrapping at the end of all that. We’ll see after this and give it our opinion. It goes through normal channels, like all incidents in the game.”
Northampton rugby manager Chris Boyd challenged his team to be more consistent.
Despite attempts by Fraser Dingwall, Tom James and Nick Isiekwe in a battle performance, a weak Saints team failed to repeat its heroic road win over Leinster seven years ago.
Boyd said: “We did make some defensive mistakes, but I think overall the intention was very good. It probably wasn’t shown on TV and you certainly wouldn’t have heard it on the radio, but it was quite windy. In fact, it was quite difficult to play. .
“We have not lacked intention all year. We have tried very hard. We have just been imprecise over periods of time. Our challenge is to be more consistent over longer periods of time. We know we have the ability. We just slow down and focus and it costs us “.
After their thirteenth straight loss in all competitions, Northampton’s focus will now shift to the home front and the December 26 clash with Worcester at Franklin’s Gardens.
“We probably have half a dozen guys coming back to the team next week. Worcester at home on Boxing Day is a very important game for us from a league standpoint,” added Boyd.
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