Rugby Daily | Nienaber raises doubts over Leinster future, Cullen hits out at media
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Football on Off the Ball.
We had that one campaign where we played Sweden, Italy. I think we smashed Sweden twice. We played Italy at home, drew, but had a really good game off them, so I knew there was a lot of quality in that team.
Join in the obsession. Subscribe now at offtheball.com forward slash join. Off the Balls Rugby Daily with Bank of Ireland, a proud sponsor of Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster Rugby. Never stop competing. You're very welcome along to Tuesday's Rugby Daily. I'm Cameron Hill. Now coming up for you today, Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber bite back at media criticism following Leinster's URC playoff win over the Lions. Munster head coach Clayton McMillan assesses a first season at the helm for him and Connacht sign off for the summer with a narrow quarterfinal defeat away to Glasgow Warriors. But first up, Leinster are the last Irish team standing in this season's URC playoffs after the weekend's quarter-finals.
Leo Cullen's side ran in nine tries as they hammered the Lions 59 points to 10 at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. They now march on to face the Stormers in Dublin this coming Saturday. There are a number of injury concerns for the province this week. So Dan Sheehan and Joe McCarthy came off with the knocks in the second half on Saturday night. while Tyke Furlong pulled out ahead of the game, with Cullen explaining that he had a little tightness in his calf. Tommy O'Brien, Ronan Kelleher, Gary Ringrose and Jordan Larmer are also doubts for the visit of John Dobson's side. Now, there have been a few tense exchanges between the Leinster coaching ticket and the media over the last few days, so our own Dara Smith-Nocton asked Cullen after the game on Saturday if he'd felt an extra pressure after their Investec Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux Begla in Bilbao.
So when you get to a final, it's boom or bust. So if your boom is celebration, party, if bust is we know what people are like, they love to pile on top of the team and kick them when they're down, which is what I tried to get across after the semi-final. But that will happen again. So if we lose the semi-final next week, people will be, it's boom or bust again, isn't it? So that's the business that we're in, isn't it? Yeah, I'm not saying that. So do I find the pressure of that? That's what I do for a living. So I love it. So do I feel under pressure? No, I absolutely love it. But it's not the backlash I feel under pressure for. It's in, I want the team to win myself. It's not what someone says on social media.
What did Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber say about media criticism?
I couldn't care less. It's as in, I want to win for the team. Everyone involved in the team wants to win. Is that clear? We hurt so much. So backlash, it's just an added layer, isn't it? It's like we want to win so badly ourselves. The most disappointed people are ourselves, with ourselves, because we want to be successful. For the club, because we love the club. There's so many people who love Leinster. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. So do you understand the actual pressure that we put on ourselves to put ourselves in these situations year on year?
So we want to be positive. We want to be in these games. And then yesterday, senior coach Jack Nienaber suggested he may not fulfil the final season of his contract with Leinster because he doesn't feel valued. The two-time World Cup winning coach with South Africa joined the province as a senior coach in December of 2023. And he's set to remain on Cullen's coaching ticket until next summer, but has received criticism from media and supporters alike over Leinster's performances in recent seasons, particularly in Europe.
How did Leinster perform in their recent playoff match?
Nanine Aber took issue with the line of questioning from written press yesterday. So these quotes come via Rory O'Connor in the Irish Independent today. So your question is, listen, am I going to be here, said Nina Amber. I hope so. Okay, currently I'm not sure, to be honest, because I don't think people value me here. They don't value me here. They don't. Who fires you, he continued. Do you know who fires you?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:29
2
What did Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber say about media criticism?
2:29–3:39
3
How did Leinster perform in their recent playoff match?
3:39–4:30
4
What are the injury concerns for Leinster ahead of the next match?
4:30–5:31
5
What did Leo Cullen say about pressure after the Champions Cup final?
5:31–11:22
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from OTB Rugby
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