Latest news with #Cullen
The 42
3 hours ago
- Sport
- The 42
'It shouldn't be a drudge' - Cullen urges Leinster supporters to turn out for semi-final
RELIEF SEEMED TO be the overriding emotion for Leo Cullen after he watched his Leinster team overcome Scarlets 33-21 in their URC quarter-final today. It was far from a convincing performance at the Aviva Stadium, with the province looking nervy as their attack struggled for cohesion and their defence was breached three times by a spirited Scarlets side. After starting strong, moving into a 12-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes, Leinster's play became increasingly scrappy. They led 15-14 at half-time before a somewhat more comfortable second 40 saw them pull clear to win by 12 points. Cullen was clearly pleased to come out on the right side of the result but could not hide his frustrations around elements of the occasion. While he made a point of thanking the Leinster support for turning out to get behind the team, a low attendance of less than 13,000 seemed to be something of a sore point, as he called for supporters to come out in numbers for next Saturday's semi-final meeting with Glasgow Warriors. 'Overall we are pleased to get through, we will just build a plan now for next week and recover well. We're into June rugby, the season goes on,' Cullen said. The big thing for us is support and genuine excitement. It shouldn't be a drudge, it should be like 'This is amazing, we are in a semi-final, we are getting ready, we are playing the current reigning champions.' 'We know it's going to be hard. Last year they won a home quarter-final and came away to Munster to win an away semi-final before they went to South Africa to win an away final. If you're putting yourself in Glasgow's shoes, what are they like? They're relishing the opportunity to come here, but we need to be relishing the opportunity of playing in front of our home fans. This time last year we were scrambling around trying to book flights to South Africa. 'Like it's great to be in a semifinal again, but we take nothing for granted,' he continued, referencing his side's Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton Saints. Advertisement 'Again, going back to the semi-final we've already lost, like, people were looking ahead. Everyone's looking ahead. Everyone is, supporters, staff were trying to look too far ahead. So it was a real harsh lesson for us, but (it's about) making sure we learn from that. So be excited now.' Sam Prendergast had a mixed game. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO Cullen also stressed the need to support young players like Sam Prendergast, who has been under huge scrutiny all season as he stepped up to be Leinster and Ireland's first-choice out-half. Prendergast had a mixed game against Scarlets – delivering a sharp pass in the lead-up to James Lowe's opening try and one superb chip kick assist for Jamie Osborne, but adding errors both in possession and defence. His spilled pass as Leinster pushed for their third try at the end of the first half saw the Scarlets go end-to-end to score, leaving it a one-point game at the interval. Cullen urged supporters to continue to back the young out-half, before turning his attention back to getting a big crowd in for the Glasgow game. Sam is a young player and listen, he had some unbelievable moments in the game today. It's not to hype somebody up to the point where we're unrealistic in our expectations. So you have a young player, just gone 22 recently, and we need to support these guys. 'The guys come through the system in Leinster, and there's patience and being realistic about what young men can do. And for us it's just, we want to try and nurture talents, and most of the guys come through the system here, a few guys add as well, like Jordie [Barrett], a big influence, having the likes of RG [Snyman] coming off the bench. Rabah [Slimani], the experience he has as well. 'But for the most part it's guys that come through, Academy players that have progressed through the senior team and again, hopefully we have support to come out again in the semi-final. 'And I know we ask a lot of supporters over the course of the season, but let's make it a special occasion, a semi-final, let's be better than we were in the last semi-final. That's our job. Coaches, making sure we have a good plan there this week, but be genuinely excited by the challenge of it. 'We're up against the URC champions who came to Ireland last year to win their semi-final. Obviously we were in Pretoria watching it after we lost our game. So, yeah, dust ourselves off now and let's go again.'
The Irish Sun
17 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Leo Cullen fires warning shot as Leinster aim to avoid another knockout trap against Scarlets
LEO CULLEN wants to avoid the traps and keep everything focused on Scarlets. 2 Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is looking forward and not as his side face Scarlets in Dublin on Saturday 2 Northampton Saints stunned Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final But Cullen bristles at any talk beyond this afternoon, because he knows where that can lead after suffering a He said: 'We have fallen into this trap before, people looking too far ahead, and it is actually doing our heads in. 'Because everyone is talking about the next thing and nobody wants to talk about the here and now. It has got to the point where it's undermining the teams we play against. 'We were talking about the semi-final and there was talk about Cardiff and EPCR and there was no talk about Northampton.' read more on rugby That shot at glory ended up a huge disappointment as 16-point favourites Leinster lost by three. Not that Cullen or anyone at Leinster disrespected Saints, but he acknowledged that when everyone outside the camp is talking of finals, it is hard to ignore. The head coach admitted: 'The problem is that some of the noise can seep into the building, that's just natural, and we've all fallen into that trap. 'So it was interesting watching . . . lots of Leinster jerseys in that crowd in Cardiff. 'Fair play to them, we're sorry we couldn't be there. And it still stings, it is going to sting for a long time.' Most read in Sport But Cullen does not want history repeating itself as Leinster look to lift silverware in the URC. He has named a full-strength side with 15 internationals. Even the absences Garry Ringrose (calf) and Tommy O'Brien (foot) do not weaken them. 'Jack Crowley he's coming for you' jokes Peter O'Mahony's wife Jess as son practices his rugby skills Today, they are 24-point favourites as the top-seeded team in the post-season faces the lowest. The showdown, however, is not proving a big draw with 12,000 tickets sold as of yesterday afternoon. Whether that is down to people being away for the bank holiday, or an expectancy that there will be an Aviva Stadium semi-final next week and final the week after that is unknown. But Cullen hopes there is a big walk-up today to boost the attendance for a game where their season is on the line. He added: 'We want to extend it out now, it's not the worse thing to do as a career, train in the good weather. 'And for the group as well, the group want to continue on. But Scarlets will be saying the same thing, they'll be hugely motivated. 'We need make sure that however good Scarlets are going to be, we will do everything in their power to be better than them.' LEINSTER: H Keenan, J O'Brien, J Osborne, J Barrett, J Lowe, S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Clarkson, J McCarthy, J Ryan, R Baird, J van der Flier, J Conan. Reps: D Sheehan, J Boyle, R Slimani, RG Snyman, M Deegan, S Penny, L McGrath, C Frawley.
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Scarlets and the secret weapon that defeated Leinster in April
Leinster head into their URC quarter-final with Scarlets at the Aviva this afternoon as hot, hot favourites. The bookies are offering Scarlets at even money plus-24 points despite the Welsh team winning the similar fixture by 13 points in Llanelli in late April. The match was marked by Scarlets hiding their kicking intent well, using four different players - full-back Blair Murray, centre Johnny Williams and half-backs Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies (injured today), at various times to take on the task. Lesser noted was the pressure put on the Blues front-row with Ronan Kelleher labelling Scarlets 'tricky' and Leo Cullen adding there was some 'messing around' which starting trio Healy-Kelleher-Clarkson starting didn't quite get to grips with "Yeh, there was a little bit of just sort of messing around in terms of weight," offered Cullen who has recalled Andrew Porter to loose-head for the clash. "So in the scrum there's obviously different teams will do things differently, what they (Scarlets) will do is they will load up their locks (second-rows) off their knees and there can be a lot of weight that comes forward on the bind phase and it's trying to deal with some of that weight. "We are a team that comes off split-stance, we would like to have a gap so then you're able to so we have stability, whereas that's a different philosophy. "And obviously there's a lot of debate goes around with Scrum Coaches and referees and that's why they would communicate quite a lot in the dressing room. "Every time a referee comes into a dressing room before a game, who does he talk to? He talks to the front-row first." Scarlet loosehead Alec Hepburn stayed in the fight for 78 minutes last April essentially getting the better of Thomas Clarkson and 50th minute replacement Rabah Slimani and this will clearly be an area Leinster will be looking to improve on. Porter's restoration to loosehead and the interesting selection of Kelleher is down to the idea he is a better scrummager than Dan Sheehan (with the reverse applicable at lineout time). "No," said Cullen when asked where Scarlets doing anything illegal or was the referee at fault at Parc y Scarlets, "we wouldn't have complained but we would have an ongoing conversation pre and post games. That's why we just had normal course events." The end of the season is in sight - and linear - in that the focus is one competition, winning three games. 'Exactly, we want to extend it out now, it's not the worst thing to do as a career, train in the good weather. And for the group as well, the group wants to continue on. "Scarlets will be saying the same thing, they'll be hugely motivated, it's a big deal for them, they haven't been in a play-off game in a little while so we lost to them in the 2017 semi-final and that was a game that stung for a while as well." It was, to be fair, quite the shock at the RDS at the time. "They haven't changed that drastically in the way they play since then, strong poachers at the ball, Johnny Barclay and Tadhg Beirne were there, if you remember they had a player sent off in that game, no11 Steff Evans, after 37 minutes. "We played against 14 men, they were very clinical, they scored a couple of tries before half time which takes my memory back to recent memory, back to Northampton. "We conceded 17 points in the 12 minutes prior to half time when Northampton had a man in the bin. That's a proper sucker punch to a team,isn't it? "Everyone looks back at the Northampton game whether your mind goes to not being quite right, whatever it is, the players certainl talk like they were right mentally. "But there was a period before the half, ironically after we scored to go 15-10 up and then we conceded three tries, when we go 15-27 down at half-time and get stung by that. "Making sure we deal with that and learn from the past, I'm talking a long time ago in 2017 when Scarlets won a semi-final here, they'll be drawing on whatever they can draw on." It is knockout rugby from herein, no second chances, no backdoors. "It's on the day, it's not about what happened before. Scarlets, don't care if they are eighth or first, they are just here for a knockout game, and spoil the party for us, and go on and extend their season." "The players need to make sure that they do that. They need to make sure that however good Scarlets are going to be they will do everything in their power to be better than them so but the reality is that we know it's just about being one better than the opposition. "Listen to Bordeaux talking after the weekend, I don't think they said they played particularly well but they just need to play better than the opposition so unfortunately that's knockout games, what they come down to be that little bit better than the opposition." Scarlets captain Josh Macleod admits that while his side posted 35 points in attack the last time the sides met, he expects to have to work harder on the other side of the ball today.'I am not too sure, but one thing I do know is that when you get into knockouts, defences win you championships and we need to be there. "Attack is not really my forte, but if we can score another 35 points it will go a long way to winning the game. "We will try to be positive, we have a gameplan that we have installed, and yes, we do know that come the 80 minutes we are going to have to score that three, four, five tries in order to beat them.' Leinster: Hugo Keenan, Jimmy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (CAPT) Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley Scarlets: Blair Murray, Tom Rogers, Joe Roberts, Johnny Williams, Ellis Mee, Sam Costelow, Archie Hughes, Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Josh Macleod (CAPT), Taine Plumtree Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Kemsley Mathias, Sam Wainwright, Dan Davis, Jarrod Taylor, Efan Jones, Ioan Lloyd, Macs Page
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Tariffs Are Here to Stay, Trump Administration Says
By and Angela Cullen Save Good morning. Donald Trump's administration vows his tariffs are here to stay, one way or another. Chinese students abandon their dreams of a US education. And consultants are stepping into the C-suite. Listen to the day's top stories. The Trump administration insisted it has multiple optinos to push through his import tariffs. For now though, a federal appeals court has temporarily paused a suspension of the levies. One idea being weighed by the White House is a stopgap plan to impose tariffs as high as 15% for 150 days, the WSJ reported. Stay on top of the latest with our Q&A.
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Cullen Wines: WA winery cracks top 10 in The Real Review's 2025 Top Wineries of Australia list
South West winery Cullen Wines has followed up its impressive 2024 by cracking The Real Review's top 10 wine producers of Australia in consecutive years. A leading wine authority, the outlet awarded the Wilyabrup-based operation out of Margaret River 9th place in the revered list. Vanya Cullen, Managing Director of Cullen Wines, reflected on her standing as a pioneering winemaker in a region of renowned producers. 'I'm incredibly honoured and humbled to be included in the top 10 — waving the flag for Margaret River, but also for sustainability, which sits at the core of Cullen Wines and is so vital to our industry as a whole,' she said. WA's next best performers were Cherubino Wines at number 31, and L.A.S. Vino at 36 — with the later also boasting a rosé named as a finalist for Rosé Wine of the Year. Scraping into the top 50 were Flametree at 47, and Moss Wood at 48. Unsurprisingly, more than 60 per cent of the State's top performers hailed from Margaret River. 'It's wonderful to see so many family-run wineries taking out top spots!' Ms Cullen added. Cullen Wines proudly claims to be Australia's first carbon neutral organic biodynamic winery. As one of just three nominees for Vigneron of the Year, the esteemed managing director said it was 'really special to see the love and energy we pour into the land recognised'. With Victoria boasting nine of the top 20 wineries, Geelong's Wine by Farr claimed the crown for the second time in four years. The win marked the State's fifth consecutive list topper, known primarily for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay varieties. Rankings were determined by an expert panel who assessed almost 15,000 wines. A total of 414 producers were awarded a Top Wineries Certificate, which equates to almost 15 per cent of Australia's 2700-odd wineries.
