Conan: Bulls win was ideal prep for visit of Leicester

Leinster's Jack Conan says Friday night's win over the Bulls was the "perfect" preparation for this weekend's Investec Champions Cup last 16 meeting with Leicester Tigers at the Aviva Stadium.

Conan was among the try-scorers for Leo Cullen's side as they produced an impressive second half to see off the South Africans 47-14 at the RDS, solidifying their position at the top of the URC standings.

While Leinster pulled clear of the tourists in the second 40, the scoreline didn't dully reflect the contest, with a powerful Bulls side - which contained four of South Africa's World Cup winning squad - coming out on top in the open half.

"The first 40 minutes was incredibly tough," Conan, who was Player of the Match on Friday, said.

Their set-piece is very good, their maul, their scrum, they're very direct and you get challenged a lot in the contact areas, they probably won a lot of battles and we were probably just a little bit soft at times, but a huge test for us and a great result.

"It was definitely nowhere near perfect, especially that first half, and then even in the second half a lot of sloppy errors probably let them come back into it by our own mistakes."

On Saturday, the province move from the RDS to the Aviva Stadium where they host the Tigers in the Champions Cup Round of 16.

And having enjoyed a week off after Ireland's Six Nations title, Conan says their tussle with the Bulls was the ideal way to prepare themselves for knockout rugby.

"Yeah I think it's perfect. Leicester are quite similar in that way, quite pragmatic, massive set-piece team. We obviously knew what it was like after playing them a few weeks ago over there in Welford Road, so we’re under no illusions, it will definitely be a tough battle but it’s Europe,