Second half start pleases Leo Cullen in win against Sale

Leo Cullen was keen to stress the positives, after Leinster made it two wins from two in the Investec Champions Cup with a sloppy 37-27 win against Sale Sharks at the RDS.

Two Sale tries in the final three minutes made the scoreboard somewhat deceiving, with the four-time champions having built up a 24-point cushion before that late flurry.

Leinster had looked out of sorts at times in the opening half, trailing 13-3 at one stage, but after a Josh van der Flier try just before half time, the hosts took the lead shortly after the break through Jamison Gibson-Park, and from there they never really looked back.

And although the win wasn't as comfortable as was predicted earlier in the week, the Leinster coach was happy to sign off the night with a bonus-point win.

"It's a win, and it's a bonus-point win, and there’s plenty to work on, but it’s still early days," Cullen told RTÉ Sport.

"It was tough going in the first half, wasn't it? The guys responded much better at the start of the second half and exerted a good bit more dominance in terms of how we carried and dealt with some of the contact area.

"Parts of the first half were frustrating but a lot of credit has to go to Sale because they were frustrating us. They got in amongst us at different stages. They played well, they came with a plan.

"We know they have a strong kicking game, that leads to the first try they score, and they made life difficult for us. I thought the guys showed good composure, and we were much better at the start of the second half."

The Leinster coach was particularly pleased with his side's start to the second half; Ryan Baird got up quickly to flick Ciarán Frawley's restart back on his side, before they ran through an unbroken 22 phases across the next