Leo Cullen: I never felt comfortable despite Leinster's rapid start

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said that he never felt comfortable despite his side's stunning first-half performance in their 23-14 Heineken Champions Cup win over Leicester at Welford Park.

Tries before the interval from Josh van der Flier and Robbie Henshaw gave Leinster what ultimately was an unassailable 20-0 half-time lead - the first time in three years Leicester had been kept scoreless by the time the interval arrived – and Cullen said he was proud of how his troops soaked up and dealt with the intense second-half pressure.

"Really good intent I think in the first half in attack and defence. I thought we put the Tigers under a fair bit of pressure when they had the ball," Cullen, whose side now meet Toulouse in the semi-final, told RTÉ Sport.

"They had some chances in our 22. James Ryan came up with a big lineout steal at one point. Obviously Leicester were in our 22 a few times but I think it was just the way we executed when we got into their end. [That] was pleasing.

"Obviously, they turned down a couple of kicks at goal and went to the corner so we managed to hold them out on a few of those occasions, which was pleasing.

"The second half they threw the kitchen sink at us. Got us at the start, a couple of penalties around set-pieces, they eventually get in at the corner [a try scored by Chris Ashton].

"We made hard work of some of our exits so we put pressure on ourselves, which was probably the opposite of what was going on in the first half.

"Credit to Leicester, they put us under a huge amount of pressure and we didn’t get that much territory really. We were camped in our end of the field for most of the second half.

"Obviously we do get out and get a good charge down and some good pressure, and we have that scrum