Cullen delighted as 'sensible' Leinster see off Munster

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen praised his side's attitude as they fended off Munster to maintain their 100% start to the season at Thomond Park.

The province made it nine wins from nine games to start the BKT United Rugby Championship campaign, as two tries in each half saw them flex their muscles against a dogged, but limited Munster in Limerick.

"It's great to get a win down here, because it's difficult to win down here, and it's difficult to score four tries down here," Cullen told RTÉ Sport after the 28-7 victory.

It could have been a different game had Munster taken advantage of a first half yellow card for Leinster wing Tommy O’Brien, who was sent to the sin-bin on 20 minutes following repeated penalties in the 22.

While Munster hammered at the Leinster line, Garry Ringrose held Tadhg Beirne up, before Leinster hit back with a Sam Prendergast try to go 14-0 in front, and win the yellow card period 7-0.

"We started the game pretty well, we go 7-0 in front and had to soak up a lot of pressure after that, and eventually Tommy goes to the bin, but we managed to clear our lines and work our way up the field, and after a good bit of pressure on their tryline Sam gets over.

"How we managed that period with 14 players was good in terms of outcome, playing quite sensibly.

"Munster came back pretty strong in the second half and get in for a try, but it's good that we managed to hit back straight away. Those periods were quite important during the game.

"All the bench guys added pretty well, so it was a good 23-man effort," Cullen (below) added.

Among those players who made an impact off the bench was Andrew Porter, who was introduced just 22 minutes into the contest, and the Ireland international would go in to contribute to a