Leo Cullen thrilled with 'gutsy' Leinster win over Munster

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was full of praise for his side's ability to "win ugly", after they ground out a dogged 9-3 win against Munster at Thomond Park.

In dreadful weather conditions in Limerick, both sides did their best to provide entertainment to a sold-out Thomond Park, with the back and forth nature of the contest going some way to make up for the lack of tries.

And after his side held on to climb back to the top of the table, a satisfied Cullen praised his team's attitude.

"We'll take the win, it was gutsy, dogged, and you just have to find a different way to win," he said.

"It's hard to train that type of gameplan, because it's ugly enough looking stuff.

"Sometimes you just have to win ugly and accumulate the points, so it's four very useful points for us on the road, in a very tough place to come. It's a good old hostile crowd, so we're pleased."

The rain was unrelenting for 80 minutes, while a driving wind made the game scrappy, but the Leinster coach praised his players for sticking to their task.

"We're pleased with the win, it wasn't the free flowing expansive game we were hoping for," he added.

"We were at the hotel and the weather was nice and we were saying, 'let's play it now!'. We could see the storm coming in.

"Fair play to the crowd for braving the elements. They probably get most of the applause on the day!

"We had to dog it out and win ugly to accumulate the points, it's four very good points on the road. We're pleased to get them.

"The way the weather was coming in, it was going to be a set piece battle and we tried to play the game in the right areas.

"It was hard going out there, it was very hard for both teams to construct meaningful play.

"We had a couple of opportunities in the first half, had a