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Leo Cullen: 'I'd be more annoyed about Saracens if we were an English club'

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has said he would be more annoyed about what has happened at Sarac...



Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has said he would be more annoyed about what has happened at Saracens in recent days if he were in charge of an English club.

The reigning European Champions Cup winners and English Premiership champions have been docked 35 points in their domestic league as well as hit with £5 million fine for salary cap irregularities. Saracens say they will appeal the decision.

The punishment came after an investigation into investment and property deals involving their owner Nigel Wray and star players such as Owen Farrell were investigated.

Last season, Leinster lost out in the European Champions Cup final to Saracens in Newcastle, on a scoreline of 20-10. The Sarries ran in two tries coming from Billy Vunipola and Sean Maitland.

Speaking at the launch of this season's European Champions Cup, Leo Cullen was asked if he felt aggrieved Leinster didn't win their fifth European title given the revelations about Saracens.

"I don't look at it like that at all," said Cullen in Cardiff. "The leagues have different rules to operate under, that's one of the great things in many ways. If you look back four years ago, everyone was asking the Pro12 teams, or Pro14 as we are now - do we have any chance of competing against the top French teams or the top English teams? And we were asking ourselves those questions.

"We had to tweak what we were doing, well quite considerably how we go about things. In many ways, that's the great thing about competition. If you're an English club, you'd have a different viewpoint, because they're all supposed to be competing under a set of rules. Obviously Saracens haven't been competing under those rules.

"If I was an English club, I would be more annoyed that we are. It doesn't affect us the same way. We want to pit ourselves against the best clubs in Europe and what the best clubs have to offer. So it doesn't really affect us in the same regard. Obviously we'd have a different viewpoint being an English team competing against them week-to-week.

"It is what it is. We're more worried about ourselves than other teams."

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European Champions Cup Leinster Leo Cullen Pro14 Saracens