United Rugby Championship: Leinster’s Leo Cullen says the top team should host the final

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen believes the United Rugby Championship final venue should be earned by the best-placed team rather than an allocated venue.

Cullen’s statement is responding to the competition‘s organisers considering playing the June 18 final in South Africa.

However, the 44-year-old says it suits supporters more to have a home final based on seeding from a logistical standpoint and maintains a final venue should be earned.

“In the short term in my opinion it would be the team that finishes top gets the advantage similar to the way it was in Super Rugby,” said Cullen to the Irish Independent.

“Because it’s going to be hard. Say you set a final in Cardiff and you have the Sharks and Stormers playing in the final.

“For the South African public in that instance, I think it’s fairer that they get to support their two teams if they are the ones to make the final.

“That would be my view based on the higher seeding of those two teams. So until you have got the tournament really established from a supporter points of view the distance is a problem, the travel on a week’s notice.

“It’s a tricky one. Probably for the final piece you should have to earn the right. That would be my opinion.”

Cullen has not taken all his internationals to South Africa ahead of their games against the Sharks and Stormers as he looks to reward the squad that did the job for the duration of the Six Nations earlier this year.

“We played seven games during the nine weeks in the Six Nations when our internationals played five games so the majority of this group are the ones that carried the load,” said Cullen.

“The credit is in many respects to the group that are here, because they’ve got us to the situation of where we are sitting in the