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Leo Cullen targets improvement as Leinster book place in Champions Cup quarter-finals

Leinster's 100% start to their season remains intact and they have a home quarter-final to look f...



Leinster's 100% start to their season remains intact and they have a home quarter-final to look forward to in the Heineken Champions Cup.

They beat Lyon 42-14 at the RDS on Sunday afternoon, to confirm their place in Europe's premier club rugby competition.

Dave Kearney went over the line twice in the first half, as well as Josh Van Der Flier with one.

Man-of-the-match Max Deegan then secured the bonus point for Leo Cullen's side with their fourth try before Sean Cronin got another as well as Andrew Porter.

Ross Byrne sent five conversions through the posts with Ciaran Frawley scoring the sixth.

Speaking to Off The Ball at full-time Cullen had mixed emotions as he targeted improvements in their performance as they prepare for their final pool game against Benetton next week.

"We ticked a lot of the boxes today. There is plenty to work on for sure but in terms of what we needed to get out today we are pretty pleased.

"Overall, the game was a little bit stop-start, a bit scrappy but we managed to get the job done.

"The try in the first minute of the game was disallowed, then we score two tries, then we give up an intercept then we score again and they've a man in the bin but we don't really capitalise on that.

"That was nearly our worst ten minutes of the game, that period just before half-time when ironically they were down to 14 men and then they score and suddenly it's 21-14, we were a little bit edgy definitely at half-time.

"Overall, we are pleased to get the job done. We had a very long lead into this game so there's that balance of trying to get that bit of cohesion in the team.

"We have a much shorter this week leading into Treviso and it is a tough challenge for us going over to Italy so we have to make sure we get all the bodies and the minds right for that challenge."

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European Heineken Champions Cup Leinster Leo Cullen