Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Cullen pictured with the URC trophy.Laszlo Geczo/INPHO final hurdle 'If you lose a final are you a failure?' - Cullen's bigger picture approach to URC decider Cullen’s Leinster take on the Bulls in Saturday’s Grand Final at Croke Park. 6.01am, 13 Jun 2025 Share options LEO CULLEN BECAME increasingly animated as he pre-URC final press conference stretched toward the half hour mark in Croke Park yesterday. He met the initial questions with a familiar hand-off, twisting an opening query about the return of Lions-bound pair Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose toward his own excitement for tomorrow’s showdown with the Bulls in Drumcondra [KO 5pm, TG4/Premier Sports/URC TV]. Responding to a question about the fitness of Hugo Keenan and Tadhg Furlong, who both miss out, Cullen named-checked Thomas Clarkson, Rabah Slimani, Jimmy O’Brien, Jack Boyle, Andrew Porter and Cian Healy, without shedding any further light on the two Ireland internationals. It was only when the conversation wandered toward the bigger picture stuff that Cullen really came to life. The Leinster boss was asked what the province had taken on board from the various defeats in finals and knock-out games over the last few seasons, and how much those experiences will inform the approach this time around. “They’re all individual games,” he replied. “Every play-off game is a final as such, so we have played in lots of play-off games, whether they come in a quarter-final, semi-final or final. The group is learning all the time, young players come through and you are adding layers of experience. “I think the way some of the questions are leading me it’s like, whoever loses is a failure in this game. So, they are two good teams going at it. If you lose in a final are you classified as a failure? “You can play your best game in the final. So both of these teams could play their best games of the season but unfortunately one of the teams has to lose. So has one of the teams, who has just played their best game, are they classified… They are classified as losers because they have lost (laughs) but are they failures? Advertisement “You have really good teams going at it but you are guaranteed nothing. So you have to prepare the best you can with the time you have available to put in your best performance. I hope the group goes out and does itself justice because they’re going out in front of so many of their friends, family, loved ones, supporters, people that turn up in the most random places during the course of a season to see us play.” Cullen spoke to the media in Croke Park.Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO Cullen was now in full flow and continued his answer to draw back memories of his first final win, a 2001 Celtic League defeat of Munster at Lansdowne Road. “I remember literally when Eric Miller kicked Anthony Foley in the balls, going back to discipline, and thinking to myself, ‘Oh, we’re just a bit of trouble here!’” Near the end of the session, a question about the value Jordie Barrett has added to the group behind the scenes led to Cullen diving into the playing resources of Ireland and South Africa. “You’re always looking to the group. At the end of the day, things people talk about, like resources and all of that, we’re producing players. You go to South Africa, they’re a people of what, 64 million people? We’re a country of how many people? 8 million? Where does rugby sit in terms of sport? Fourth. In South Africa it’s number one. “In terms of the rugby-playing population, what would they have? 12 times the amount of players we have registered maybe? 15? We’re a drop in the ocean in terms of what we’re up against. “When we get the opportunity to bring in a player… Listen, it’s fantastic to be able to do that. But it’s off the back of all the support we actually get. It gets reinvested into the group ultimately because you can only bring so many players in because part of our job spec is to produce players to play for Ireland. “We’re very lucky to have Jordie. He has hopefully added in lots of different ways to the group because at the end of the day we’re a tiny country in terms of playing population and we’re up against a juggernaut team who we would have watched play Super Rugby and dismantle teams over the years, so we know we’re in for a serious bloody challenge.” A follow-up question extended the Barrett point to include RG Snyman, Rabah Slimani, and Leinster-bound Rieko Ioane, leading to Cullen referencing the two team sheets in front him, focusing on the list of Bulls names. “I feel like I’m distracted from the Bulls now,” he admitted. Leinster trained in Croke Park on Thursday afternoon.Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO “Look through their team, there’s a tonne of experience. I know Jake (White, Bulls head coach) was saying they’re a young squad. I’m not sure what squad he’s talking about, that’s not a young group, that’s not a young team. He was talking about that on Tuesday. Is he trying to lull us all into some false sense is he? A young group? Do you see a young group there? They’re a serious experienced group we’re up against and a team that has unbelievably high standards, that is used to winning, it’s in their blood isn’t it? “Rugby, you’re in South Africa and it’s on morning, noon and night.” At that point a South African member of the media informed Cullen rugby might sit behind football in terms of popularity. “Ah go away, will you?” Cullen laughed. “Go away. Now you’re not telling the truth, I know you’re not telling the truth.” And with that he was off, closing a somewhat light yet occasionally tetchy half hour in the bowels of Croke Park. Ciarán Kennedy Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'If you lose a final are you a failure?' - Cullen's bigger picture approach to URC decider”. 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