Leinster Boss Leo Cullen Throws Some Serious Shade At Munster Following Controversial Signing

Leinster boss Leo Cullen appears to have thrown some serious shade at Munster following their poaching of tighthead prop Roman Salanoa over the summer.

The eastern province have made it clear in the past that they wanted to keep the Hawaiian-born prop but respected his “personal decision” to move down south and join Munster.

The explosive prop had been developing rapidly with the men in blue and had just been promoted into Leinster’s full academy, making his senior debut off the bench against Ulster last December.

Salanoa spoke to Connacht about a move before they snapped up another Leinster tighthead prop in Jack Aungier with Leo Cullen initially under the impression that the Hawaiian was staying, despite the fact that he was yet to sign a senior contract.

But in a move that surprised the Cullen and his coaching ticket, Salanoa signed for Munster ahead of the restart, leaving Leinster in serious trouble at tighthead with Tadhg Furlong and Vakh Abdaladze both out injured.

Now Leinster have been forced to bring in reinforcements at tighthead with Ciaran Parker signing a short-term loan deal today, a man who interestingly – was released by Munster a few weeks back after a season plagued with injury.

In quotes published by Irish Independent rugby correspondent Rúaidhrí O’Connor today, Cullen said Leinster were left “compromised” by the shock loss of Salanoa over the summer and questioned the “pressure he was under in the background” after the prop said “he was staying.”

“He told me he was staying, I took him for his word but the contract wasn’t signed,” Cullen said.

“I’m not sure what pressure he was under in the background… but it left us compromised”

Plenty of sting in that quote from Cullen – and how perfect is the timing? Tomorrow’s night semi-final clash between Leinster and Munster just got even more interesting.