Leo Cullen vows Leinster will come back stronger

Leo Cullen has vowed Leinster will come back stronger after another trophyless season.

For the third year in a row the province have missed out on silverware, following a 25-20 defeat away to the Bulls in the semi-final of the BKT United Rugby Championship.

In each of the last three campaigns, Cullen's side have lost a URC semi-final and a Champions Cup decider.

Leinster looked on course for top-seed in the URC play-offs when they hammered the Bulls 47-14 at the RDS back in March, but three defeats in their final five regular season games left them away to the South Africans in Pretoria this weekend.

And while their season has now come to a familiar, disappointing end, the Leinster head coach was in philosophical mood at Loftus Versfeld.

"We will build and we'll go again," he said.

"[We will] Show some character. I think the group showed a lot of resolve to come back from where they had been over the last couple of years so it's disappointing to be left with the same outcome, which is a one-score loss in a URC semi-final. It doesn’t get any closer than that."

As was the case in Leinster's Champions Cup final defeat to Toulouse last month, Leinster's attacking game failed to fire in Pretoria, with their only lead of the game coming during the opening half while the Bulls were down to 14 players following a Sergeal Petersen yellow card.

There will be plenty of change at the province over the summer, with Tyler Bleyendaal coming in as new attack coach to replace Andrew Goodman, who is moving into the Ireland set-up.

RG Snyman's move from Munster is also set to bolster their pack considerably, while All Black Jordie Barrett is also set to arrive later in the season.

"Everyone wants to win trophies here," Cullen (above) added.

"The club