IT WAS a far from vintage display by his side on the night, but Leo Cullen was nevertheless pleased to see Leinster coming out on the right end of a low-scoring encounter with Glasgow Warriors in the United Rugby Championship at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

A little over a month earlier in the same venue, Leinster registered eight tries on their way to securing an emphatic 52-0 triumph over Glasgow at the quarter-final stage of the European Champions Cup.

There was far less at stake for the eastern province on this occasion — they had already secured top spot at the end of the URC regular season table with a 76-5 demolition of Zebre on the previous weekend — but the hosts found it difficult to overcome their stubborn Scottish counterparts.

A Jimmy O’Brien try and five points from the boot of Sam Prendergast moved Leinster into a 10-0 cushion by the 56th minute, and after George Horne fired back for Glasgow with an unconverted finish, a late penalty from Ciaran Frawley eventually propelled his team towards a 13-5 win.

It was a much closer contest than the vast majority of URC games the Blues have played in the Lansdowne Road venue during the current term, and Cullen hopes that will serve them well as they begin their knockout campaign with a quarter-final showdown at home to Scarlets on 31 May.

“The first 20 minutes, we didn’t really have a huge amount of ball, did we? They created opportunities, they’re a dangerous team, as we know. They didn’t really front up here realistically when they played us a few weeks ago. You get a sense from them even in the warm-up, very focused. You could definitely see they were up for the physical challenge,” the Leinster head coach said after Saturday’s game.

“You definitely learn more from those tight games because it’s more realistic to play-off games. Good to come through it. We kicked the penalty at the end, dealt with the restart and the end of the game. That’s not bad practice for knockout games. Overall, it’s a win. Finishing top of the log, it doesn’t obviously mean anything bar you have home advantage.

“The reward for us is that hopefully we get a big crowd. That makes a real difference to us as a club. I know there was a lot of frustration after our Champions Cup semi-final, but the group is focused to try and make that right. We get another opportunity to play a knockout game. It’s about preparing right now.”

There were some injury concerns for Cullen arising from Saturday’s game, with Robbie Henshaw being withdrawn just under 22 minutes into the action with a knee issue. Jamie Osborne deputised for the Westmeath man in one of seven changes Cullen made during the contest.

The one player named on the bench who didn’t see game time against Glasgow was Tadhg Furlong, who Cullen revealed was experiencing a niggle which ensured that — by extension — Thomas Clarkson lasted the full 80 minutes in the Aviva at tighthead prop.

Henshaw and Furlong are the kind of operators Cullen will need at his disposal as Leinster seek to challenge for a URC title in the coming weeks — and end a four-year search for a major trophy in the process — but he is optimistic the aforementioned international duo won’t be dealing with any serious issues.

“He [Henshaw] has a bang on his knee. Not 100% sure yet, but it will need a bit more exploring there. Obviously, Tadhg didn’t come off the bench. He just felt something as well, muscle-wise. I’m not exactly sure what, but that was the message there,” Cullen added.

“Again, we will just get him checked out in terms of the extent of that. I think it will be minor enough, but we’ll just make sure. Fair play to Tom Clarkson, I thought he was excellent going the 80 minutes. Not an easy thing to do for a tighthead prop. Great experience for him.”

Daire Walsh