Champions Cup Final: Leo Cullen puts on brave face as Leinster fall at the final for third year running

The Blues pushed the match to extra-time where an unfortunate yellow card for James Lowe looking to intercept a pass put them on the back foot from there they would never recover

Leo Cullen put a very brave face on a disappointing outcome at Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

His Leinster side had come up short for the third year running and if there were those who though the previous two finals were tight-run affairs, then this was even closer.

The Blues pushed the match to extra-time where an unfortunate yellow card for James Lowe looking to intercept a pass put them on the back foot from there they would never recover.

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“That was a very tight contest, wasn’t it, I thought we had some really positive passages of play," said the Leinster coach afterwards

"It was just Toulouse, they scrambled well, came up with some big moments defensively, that was probably the difference.

"But the lads, I thought, were immense, they kept firing shots at Toulouse all the way through it and didn’t quite get the rewards at different stages for lots of different reasons, probably, within the game.

“Everyone’s devastated in there now, they poured a hell of a lot into it. I think it’s two very good squads of players going at it in an amazing stadium and it comes down to the finest things, doesn’t it.

"There’s a drop-goal at the end (of normal time) and if it goes a metre to the right we’re having a very different conversation in here, aren’t we?"

Hopes had been high going into the extra-time period as Leinster had been asserting second-half dominance, albeit not overly reflected on the scoreboard.

Continued Cullen: “Whatever about the last 20, you lose James to the bin and they score their try.

"So, yeah, listen, the lads have been immense in terms of the character they’ve shown and they need to show a bit of character now because if you think about it you kind of get the sense of what’s coming, I guess.

“That’s the nature of sport at the top and obviously we’ve been on the losing side, unfortunately, on a few occasions now.

"You get this narrative that builds off the back of that, people start adding all the different bits together but when you break down this specific game it came down to very tight calls at different stages.

"Not enough of them went our way unfortunately, over the course of particularly the first 80 minutes anyway."

One stark statistic is that Leinster conceded 24 points to penalties.

Add Blair Kinghorn's four successful shots (5', 8', 37', 58') to Thomas Ramos's four (71', 89' , 93', 95') and it's a big return on a day when Leinster conceded 14 penalties through the 100 minutes.

"I'll have to look back at the finer details and listen we will have a look back at all those calls in terms of the decision making from everything really.

"There's the two teams and there's the officials in the middle and we'll look back on those decisions but for us, we have to focus on within the game on what we can control.

"There's some tight calls throughout the game and due to the nature of the pitch, when you give away a penalty on the halfway line, because the pitch is only 95 metres in length, then some of their goalkickers - all the goalkickers - come into range and credit to them.

"They were a little more clinical in terms of taking their opportunities and some of them were off the tee."

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