Leo Cullen Leinster Rugby Sport Rugby on Leo Cullen Leinster Rugby

Leo Cullen: Leinster won't dwell on URC disappointment

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Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says he's confident his side can recover from Saturday's disappointment, as attention now turns to this weekend's Heineken Champions Cup final against La Rochelle (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).The province saw their hopes of a URC and European double quashed by Munster at the Aviva Stadium, going down 16-15 to their rivals in the semi-final of the BKT United Rugby Championship.Leinster will have the chance to right those wrongs this Saturday in their final game of the season, when they take on La Rochelle in the decider of the Champions Cup at the Aviva.And speaking in the aftermath of their loss to Munster, Cullen said they were already turning the page and preparing for their rematch with Ronan O'Gara's side."There's a good conversation going on in the dressing-room there among the group.

Everyone is excited to get going," he said."Bitterly disappointing to lose this but we have a big final to look forward to now and we have to give everything we have to it.

These are special weeks. You enjoy the process of preparing together."You would love another couple of weeks together but it is only one week now."With the knockout stages of the Champions Cup extended to 16 teams, and the URC having an eight-team playoff, Leinster have played five knockout game in the last seven weeks in their bid to win both titles.And while Cullen has heavily rotated his squad across the last two months to deal with the heavy schedule, he didn't agree with the suggestion that the playoffs for either competition were too long."It makes it a challenge but we didn't think it was going to be an impossible challenge and that’s why we wanted to take it on.

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