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'He was phenomenal' - Leo Cullen full of praise for Ringrose

Ringrose scored two tries, and set up another
Ringrose scored two tries, and set up another

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen hailed the "exceptional" Garry Ringrose, after the centre inspired the province's 55-24 Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final win against Leicester Tigers.

The Ireland international scored two first half tries, and laid on his side's crucial third score for Jamison Gibson-Park, as the four-time champions advanced to a meeting with either the Bulls or Cell C Sharks back at the Aviva Stadium later this month.

It was a first game back for the 28-year-old after almost four weeks away since suffering a bad head injury in Ireland's Six Nations win against Scotland, and he looked like he's never been away.

"He was phenomenal really, wasn't he?" Cullen said.

"His ability to beat defenders, some of his lines of running. He was exceptional, I thought."

Cullen's side blew Leicester apart in the final 30 minutes, scoring five second half tries to ease their way into the final four of the competition.

They game swung in the 10 minutes when Caelan Doris was off the field for a sin-bin, the back row having been yellow-carded for a high hit on Jasper Wiese. At the time, Leinster were 17-10 in front, but by the time Doris returned to the game they had pushed it out to 27-10, with Ross Byrne kicking a penalty, and Gibson-Park adding a try.

And Cullen says his side showed remarkable mental strength with how they found an extra gear when they needed it.

"Caelan gets binned, and we were down to 14 men. But the response was really positive," he added.

"We definitely focused the minds, we dealt with the maul off the initial lineout when they moved the ball wide, and we were able to counter ruck. We get a penalty, kick down that end of the field.

"I wasn't sure how that maul gets collapsed, but they get the scrum, and our seven-man scrum ends up driving them off their own ball. That was a huge moment, and Ross kicks the penalty and we managed the period really well.

"The players should have a lot of confidence off the experiences they've built in the last few seasons. Just to be able to deal with whatever takes place in the game. We try to plan for lots of these scenarios, we dealt with that scenario well, which was good. Everyone is clear in terms of what we go to. Credit to the players, I thought they were excellent.

"It's great for the guys it's a real privilege for us to be here. The beauty of playing on Friday is we get to watch the other three games now without the stress of having our game," he added.

On a sour note for the province, they'll be managing several injuries over the next three weeks before their semi-final, with Ryan Baird going off in the first half with a shoulder injury, while there were also knocks to James Lowe and Robbie Henshaw.

"[Baird went off] with his shoulder, I'm not sure exactly, but we’ll see, hopefully he’s not too bad. But we’ll see how that settles down.

"James Lowe went off with his calf as well, so we will see how he is. That’s the challenge isn’t it? Physical games. You have to be able to deal with that. It’s a 23-man game and I thought our guys, the bench all added in their different ways, which was good.

"Overall we are pleased to be through to the next round."

"Robbie was okay," Cullen added. "He was just feeling a bit of tightness at half-time, so he was okay in terms of making the change."

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