Leo Cullen was delighted with Jordie Barrett’s first outing for Leinster as they began their European campaign with a big win over Bristol.
The 27-year-old New Zealand back joined the club from Hurricanes following the November international window and will stay until the end of the season.
He came on as a half-time replacement for full-back Ciarán Frawley in the 35-12 Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 victory at Ashton Gate, assisting the visitors’ second try and scoring the third.
"It was great that Jordie got 40 minutes," said Cullen, whose side have lost the last three finals.
"Ciarán went off with a knock to his back at half-time, so it was amazing experience to be able to bring off the bench.
"It has taken a lot of work in terms of getting him here, and hopefully he will play a big part over the course of the season. He is a quality person and a quality player.
Not a bad debut 😅
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 8, 2024
It took Jordie Barrett 15 mins to score his first @leinsterrugby try 👏
Watch instant #InvestecChampionsCup highlights ➡️ https://t.co/WGjv7ag8jD pic.twitter.com/gvWGJbbg79
"We weren’t sure how we’d get him up and running, we thought it was sensible to have him on the bench as he figures out a number of things this week and the tail end of last week.
"Hopefully he kicks on, goes from strength to strength. When you bring someone in from the outside you just want to make sure they add [to the team]."
The sides were level at 7-7 at the break with Jordan Larmour grabbing Leinster’s try but out-half Sam Prendergast (2), Barrett and Josh van der Flier all crossed the line in the second half to ensure all five points for the four-time champions, who had Rónan Kelleher, Max Deegan and Andrew Porter sin-binned.
"We are pleased to get the win," added Cullen.
"The second half was a lot better than the first half. We got on the wrong end of a lot of calls. The yellow cards led to a lot of pressure on us.
"When it was 14 on 14, we scored three tries and played some really good stuff in that period of the game.
"Overall, we’re pretty pleased. A couple of guys making their debuts in the competition, Jack Boyle, Rabah [Slimani], RG [Snyman] for Leinster in the competition, Gus McCarthy, Jordie making his debut for Leinster.
"It was a tricky fixture for us particularly with Bristol being one of the most cohesive teams in the Premiership at the moment in terms of stability to their group, they’re going well and they’ll still be bashing away in this tournament."
Leinster host Clermont, 28-0 winners over Benetton, next Saturday at Aviva Stadium.
Watch Leinster v Clermont Auvergne in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport
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