{"id":302614,"date":"2023-12-16T23:26:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T23:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=302614"},"modified":"2023-12-16T23:26:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T23:26:43","slug":"leinster-37-27-sale-leo-cullens-side-recover-from-sluggish-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-union\/leinster-37-27-sale-leo-cullens-side-recover-from-sluggish-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Leinster 37-27 Sale: Leo Cullen&apos;s side recover from sluggish start"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Leinster 37-27 Sale: Leo Cullen&#8217;s side recover from sluggish start to secure victory with spirited second half display<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Leinster overcame Sale despite a disappointing first half performance\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sale made 12 changes but Leinster still found it a challenge to overcome them\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A power-packed second half saved Leinster\u2019s blushes on Saturday night, as they shook off the gutsy challenge of Sale.<\/p>\n<p>The visitors made 12 changes from the side that hammered Stade Francais in their opening Champions Cup game last weekend, and the expectation was that a full-strength Leinster would make short work of Alex Sanderson\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<p>But it was Leo Cullen who was surely the more worried coach at the interval as Sale took advantage of Leinster sluggishness to lead by two.<\/p>\n<p>It left the sold-out attendance of 18,600 at the RDS struggling to get into the festive spirit, but Leinster eventually came right to run out comfortable winners.<\/p>\n<p>While the final score leaves Leinster looking likely to secure a home tie in the last 16, there was enough rust in their display to leave Cullen and senior coach Jacques Nienaber with plenty to work on over Christmas.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/20\/79042327-0-image-a-4_1702758705003.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jamison Gibson-Park scores a try for Leinster during their victory against Sale Sharks<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/20\/79042255-0-image-m-3_1702758485982.jpg\" height=\"631\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Leinster head coach Leo Cullen will be aware that there is a lot for his team to work on<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/20\/79042251-0-image-a-1_1702758453261.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Tom Curtis (right) scored a try for Sale but his side ended up being beaten by Leinster<\/p>\n<p>Sale had charged into a 13-3 lead helped by a Connor Doherty try, and after Leinster laid siege to the Sale line and came up short, it took a Josh van der Flier score just before half-time to peg the visitors\u2019 lead back to two at the interval.<\/p>\n<p>The second half was a very different story as tries from Jamison Gibson-Park, Robbie Henshaw, Cian Healy and Ryan Baird saw the Sale challenge off but late tries from Tommy Taylor and Tom Curtis were due reward for their efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12872363\/Leinster-37-27-Sale-Leo-Cullens.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leinster 37-27 Sale: Leo Cullen&#8217;s side recover from sluggish start to secure victory with spirited second half display Leinster overcame <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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