Leinster suffered all manner of difficulties at scrum time, where the mammoth Sharks’ starting front-row and replacement tight head Carlu Sadie gave the home front-row a serious workout until being replaced.
Even the backup midfield pairing of Charlie Ngatai and Ciarán Frawley had a productive balance to it, but underpinning all of this was the pain of last season, not just losing to La Rochelle but also having their season ended at home by the Bulls in the semi-final in this competition.“The end of last season was like a sick feeling and when you go through these sequence of games you have to be prepared to give your all on the day,” Cullen said afterwards.
Leinster's Michael Milne and Leinster's Dave Kearney celebrate overcoming Sharks. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho Powell noted they’ve learned the lesson the hard way, namely the importance of earning home knock-out ties. He scored the opening try untouched from 40 metres, and appeared to have set up a consolation score late on for Rohan Janse van Rensburg, but it was ruled out for an illegal and dangerous clear-out by Henry Venter, who, as a result, became their second played shown a yellow card in the game.