Leinster shake off European heartbreak with powerful display against ill disciplined Glasgow

The game turned on a moment of crazy ill-discipline from the experienced Richie Gray when he took out Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park with a high hit at the breakdown which led to a yellow card which could so easily have been red.

Tadhg Furlong of Leinster takes a 'selfie' with ballboys after the United Rugby Championship quarter-final at the RDS 

URC quarter-final

Leinster 76 

Glasgow Warriors 14 

Leinster responded to their Champions Cup heartbreak by running in a dozen tries to blitz Glasgow Warriors at the RDS and set up a home semi-final in the inaugural URC against the Bulls next weekend.

The league champions recovered from a slow start to blow Glasgow away with a devastating display which saw them run in tries at will.

Half a dozen tries were scored while Glasgow had men in the bin as they recovered from their loss to La Rochelle with a performance to suggest that they will again collect silverware before this season is over.

Glasgow, perhaps sensing some vulnerability in Leinster’s late heartbreak against La Rochelle, took the game to them from the outset and just owned the ball for the opening five minutes.

Their intentions were laid out when they opted to go to the corner with a penalty in front of the posts after just two minutes and they were rewarded several phases later when prop Zander Fagerson squeezed under Andrew Porter to score. Ross Thompson added the conversion and Glasgow continued to tear into the champions from the restart to suggest another testing afternoon for Leo Cullen’s men.

But then it all turned on a moment of crazy ill-discipline from the experienced Richie Gray when he took out Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park with a high hit at the breakdown which led to a yellow card which could so easily have been red.

Leinster didn’t require any further invitation to get going and by the time the former Lion returned ten minutes later, the game was as good as done and dusted as Leo Cullen’s men struck for three converted tries while they had the extra man.

They got over for the first of them when they went to touch with the penalty from Gray’s hit and after the drive from Ryan Baird’s take, hooker Dan Sheehan got over for the first of his brace.

They built on that by exploiting space with Jordan Larmour starting and finishing a move to push them into a lead they never surrendered after 19 minutes, with promising lock Joe McCarthy getting his try for Leinster after the officials adjudged he had not knocked-on when tackled on the line by hooker George Turner.

Larmour did well to deny flanker Gregor Brown grounding the ball and then Leinster countered and Sheehan got his second try before the break after another lineout drive to lead 26-7 at the interval.

The second half turned into a canter for the champions and they struck for eight tries against the demoralised Scottish side.

Caelan Doris hit three minutes after the restart and then Glasgow full-back Ollie Smith was binned for a deliberate knock-on. Leinster again scored three tries while they had the extra man with tighthead Michael Ala’atoa scoring minutes after replacing Tadhg Furlong and then Gibson-Park and Garry Ringrose ran in tries.

The return of Smith did little to stop the Leinster rampage, although George Horne pulled back a try for Glasgow after an initial good break from deep by centre Sione Tuipulotu, which Thompson converted to make it 52-14 after 59 minutes.

Leinster responded by turning the screw in the final quarter to run in four more tries with Larmour getting his second before Ciaran Frawley intercepted a pass from Smith to score from deep.

It got worse in the closing stages for Glasgow as replacement Luke McGrath and full-back Jimmy O’Brien scored, while Leinster’s attitude was summed up when Frawley chased from deep to catch Jack Dempsey as the No.8 just didn’t have the gas to make the whitewash despite a clear run to the line.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: D Sheehan (2), J Larmour (2), J McCarthy, C Doris, M Ala’atoa, J Gibson-Park, G Ringrose, C Frawley, L McGrath, J O’Brien. Cons: R Byrne (6), H Byrne (2).

Scorers for Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Z Fagerson, G Horne. Cons: R Thompson (2).

LEINSTER: J O’Brien; J Larmour, G Ringrose (R Henshaw 59), C Frawley, R O’Loughlin; R Byrne (H Byrne 66), J Gibson-Park (L McGrath 56); A Porter (C Healy 56), D Sheehan (S Cronin 56), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa 44); J McCarthy, J Ryan (R Molony 59); R Baird, J van der Flier (J Conan 59), C Doris.

GLASGOW WARRIORS: O Smith; J McKay, S Tuipulotu, S Johnson, R McLean; R Thompson, A Price (G Horne 50); J Bhatti (O Kebble 49), G Turner (F Brown half-time), Z Fagerson (S Berghan 49); R Harley (L Bean 56), R Gray; R Wilson (K McDonald 56), G Brown (T Gordon 61), J Dempsey.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).