Birthday boy Drico turns it on for Leinster
Delighted coaches and players celebrated the win with gusto, the sense of relief palpable with such a battle raging for places and position in the last eight this weekend.
As yet, Leinster won’t know their opponents but their highly deserved bonus-point win assures them of at least third-place ranking.
There was a time when Irish teams might have been intimidated in such an atmosphere, but when Brian O’Driscoll’s legion of fans started singing Happy Birthday (he was 32 yesterday) 12 minutes from time, you just knew it was going to end happily for the Irish team.
O’Driscoll’s try was Leinster’s fifth, and it helped the Irish side into a 34-11 lead, made into 36-11 with Jonny Sexton’s conversion — as if it mattered at that stage of a one-sided contest.
Without ever reaching their full potential, Leinster can stand proud after a five-try performance that secured their 25th victory on the road in this Heineken Cup competition.
As of now, Leinster are ranked top ahead of Toulouse and Northampton (both 21 points), and cannot be caught by the next best leaders, Toulon, Biarritz and Perpignan (all on 17 points) in groups three, four and five respectively.
Their quarter-final opponents won’t be known until the drama in other groups unfold but it will be one of the pool winners unless either Toulouse or Northampton take a fall to allow Leinster finish first or second when they would be pitched against one of the two best runners-up.
Delighted Leinster team manager Guy Easterby summed up a great evening when he commented: “To even get a win here was good, to get one with a bonus point and to secure a home draw in the quarter-finals was exceptional.
“It is a tribute to all concerned; this was a particularly hard group, so to top it and get to play at home in the knockout stages is pretty special.”
Leinster didn’t have the best of starts, falling behind within seconds; the first scrum of the match collapsed and referee Greg Garner awarded the penalty to the home side. Juan Martin Hernandez kicked the opening points of the game.
Leinster lived dangerously thereafter when Julien Saubade powered through only to be denied through a handling mistake late in the movement.
Having survived a further territorial battering, Leinster struck back to lead; the opening try of the game was sublime, with Isa Nacewa finishing off a great move and Sexton added the extra points for a 7-3 lead.
But after Hernandez missed a 12th-minute penalty, Leinster failed to deal with the drop out and from the immediate counter-attack Verimi Vakatawa scored to give the home side a single point advantage.
Nonetheless, Leinster looked the more likely team and secured another two tries through sheer brilliance in the ensuing minutes from Sean O’Brien and Sexton, both of them converted by the out-half to secure a 21-8 lead.
Racing, having found their feet, finally came back to grab three extra points before the break through the boot of Hernandez.
Leinster grabbed three extra points early in the second half to establish a 24-11 before Sexton got the fourth try to secure the bonus point.
Delightfully, a later play fell right for O’Driscoll on his big day, but the centre made it himself with a duck and dive before going in near the posts and Sexton kicked the conversion for a 36-11 win and ensure another night to remember for the Blues.
* In the other game in the group, Clermont Auvergne won at Saracens 24-14.
RACING METRO 92: D Scarbrough, B Fall, V Vakatawa, A Masi, J Saubade, J Hernandez, N Durand [capt], J Brugnaut, G Arganese, S Zimmermann, S Dellape, F van der Merwe, R Vaquiin, B Le Roux, A Galindo.
LEINSTER: I Nacewa, S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald, J Sexton, I Boss, C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, L Cullen [capt], N Hines, R Ruddock, S Jennings, S O’Brien.
Replacements: F McFadden for Horgan (40), F Van der Merwe for Healy (50), E. Reddan for Boss (62), D. Toner for Hines, D. Ryan for Jennings (both 68), C Newland for Ross (68).
Referee: G Garner (England)
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