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Leo Cullen admits Leinster lost their way in disjointed opener

Rob Kearney hops away from Edoardo Gori of Treviso
Rob Kearney hops away from Edoardo Gori of Treviso

Leinster coach Leo Cullen admitted his side lost their way in their Pro12 opening night defeat of Treviso, but is confident the pieces will fall into place.

Last season's beaten finalists failed to sparkle in a 20-8 RDS victory against the Italians - who propped up the table last term - requiring James Tracy's late try to kill it off.

For Cullen, the rustiness is of no great concern.

“We’re happy to get a win," he said. "I thought we started the game really well, showed some good intensity. We lost our way.

"The game got very disjointed; there was a lot of scrums collapsed. A lot of scrum penalties. We came out the wrong side of most of them so it was a little bit frustrating, the middle part of the game.

"We lost our way. The game got very disjointed; there was a lot of scrums collapsed."

"I thought we kicked into gear again towards the end of the game but we got a win, we’re up and running. We feel we left a few opportunities out there but listen, we’ve a win and we’ll move on to next week."

The result wasn't the only positive for Leinster, who welcomed Cian Healy back to the fray.

The Ireland prop was back in competitive action for the first time in almost five months after knee and neck injuries, lasting 50 minutes before running out of gas. 

Joey Carberry's eye-catching debut was another talking point. The 20-year-old Academy fly-half lifted the home support with two first-half touchdowns.

"He was blowing a bit!" Cullen said of Healy. "It was a good test, good to get some minutes under his belt.

"It’s good to get those guys integrated again. I thought Treviso looked a bit more match-hardened; they played three games in pre-season whereas we’ve been a little bit more disjointed perhaps.

"Joey looked dangerous throughout. He’s gone well in pre-season.

"It’s been really competitive with those three young 10s, Ross Byrne and Cathal Marsh as well. They’re all pushing for selection."

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