Jack Conan stars as Leinster run riot
The rest was all gravy.
It will be the province’s 12th time to feature in the European Cup’s quarter-finals in just 16 seasons and the manner in which they scythed through a Montpellier side that arrived in Dublin with everything still to play for bodes well. Very well, indeed.
Eight tries they bagged in Ballsbridge and the extent of Leinster’s overall well-being as they eye further European glory was perhaps most evident in the fact that it was Sean O’Brien’s stand-in, Jack Conan, who bagged three of them.
A home tie come late March/early April is just a fingertip away and they can push themselves up the rankings of qualified teams in the final round of pool games next week when they pitch up away to a Castres side with little to motivate them.
Montpellier were no reluctant tourists last night.
Not until the scoreboard started ticking over, at any rate. A win here would have reignited their own qualifications hopes and their owner Mohed Altrad had even gone on record this week as saying that this was their biggest game of the season to date..
The first 15 minutes lived up to all that with Leinster moving the ball at pace and from all departments — including their own 22 — while some of the visitors’ behemoths had sent James Tracy and Rory O’Loughlin bouncing back off attempted tackles.
The home scrum had suffered through two punishing scrums by then, too, although the French maul that had done such damage to the province on their defeat in the Languedoc in October had been repelled on its first launch.
Teed up nicely, it seemed, but then came the blitz.
Isa Nacewa started it, which is nothing new. It was the veteran full-back whose line break punched Leinster into the opposition 22 and him again on the end of a long, looping Jonathan Sexton pass some phases later on the opposite wing.
It was impressive, penetrative play with individual touches of glitter sprinkled onto the smooth, no-nonsense collective effort but the second try, claimed just eight minutes later, was all about one man’s class and that man was Nacewa yet again.
Sexton’s whippet of a pass had allowed Leinster in around the back but space was sacred along the touchline as Nacewa took possession. No bother. A little dink over the head of Frans Steyn and a quick pass off the shoulder to Conan and the latter was in for five.
It was sublime rugby from the one-time Fiji international and Steyn’s frustration spilled over just moments later when, with Leinster yet again encroaching past the 22, the South African 10 caught Sexton high and late with a forearm.
It had to be a red and it was.
Sexton, thankfully, resumed after a quick HIA but he was hardly missed, Ross Byrne trotting on to land a third conversion after a penalty from Nacewa and a try for Adam Byrne that involved a leaping catch by the wing and a subsequent one-two with Conan along the tramlines.
The manner in which Leinster sought to negate the multinational beef so expensively assembled by the Top 14 side surprised no-one and yet the visitors were simply powerless to counter the speed of movement and thought they were faced with.
Rewind three months to the Altrad Stadium and it was Leinster who were dropping balls in contact.
Now it was Montpellier’s turn and the sight of the visiting players trudging slowly off at the interval said it all.
The second half was academic. The only questions was how many more tries Leinster could claim and how many of the near full-house would stick around in the Baltic conditions until the bitterly cold end.
Quite a few, was the answer.
The men in blue made it worth everyone’s while with further touch downs from Conan (2), Luke McGrath, Cian Healy and Garry Ringrose spread more evenly through a second period that couldn’t end soon enough for the losers.
The scoreline will lead to inevitable questions over Montpellier’s stomach for the fight here but the manner in which they were filleted by Leinster when all was still to play for in that first period can’t be ignored either.
A good start to the weekend for the Irish contingent.
I Nacewa; A Byrne, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, R O’Loughlin; J Sexton, L McGrath; J McGrath, J Tracy, T Furlong, D Toner, H Triggs, J Conan, J van der Flier, J Heaslip.
R Byrne for Sexton (28-32); R Kearney for Nacewa (42); C Healy for J McGrath (53); R Strauss for Tracy, R Byrne for Sexton and M Bent for Furlong (all 56); R Molony for Triggs (64); J Gibson-Park for L McGrath (66); D Leavy for Henshaw (70);
J Michel; T Nagusa, V Martin, J Tomane, N Nadolo; F Steyn, N White; M Nariashvili, S Mamukashvili, J Du Plessis, P Willemse, K Mikautadze, F Ouedraogo, A Qera, P Spies.
H Immelman for Qera (28); C Geli for Mamukashvili (43); A Battut for Mikautadze (44); Y Watremez for Nariashvili (53); D Kubriashvili for du Plessis (53); T O’Leary for White (60); J du Plessis for Kubriashvili (62); K Galletier for Ouedraogo (64); J Mogg for Martin (72).
JP Doyle.
Grenoble 31 Newcastle 27
Newport Gwent D’gons 34 Enisei-STM 10
Ulster A 38 London Scottish 21
Nottingham 28 Leinster A 24
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