Leinster grind out another win as Connacht draw a blank
HOLDING ON: Joe McCarthy of Leinster is tackled by Jack Carty of Connacht during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at The Sportsground in Galway. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
The theory was that Connacht’s new 4G surface would set the table for some sumptuous running rugby. Right? Well, here was the second week in a row where the fare was anything but easy to digest and maybe the main difference here was that the visitors claimed the win.
As with the visit of Munster seven days before, this was a package blighted by holes. The sight of referee Frank Murphy raising his arm in the air was far too familiar and both sides put together a catalogue of errors on a night coated with rain and buffeted by a stiff breeze.
Add to that the fact that the two sides combined for over 2,000 kicking metres – on top of the 23 penalties - and entertaining this was not but the end result is a fifth win from five for Leinster, who still look like they have acres of room to improve, and a fourth defeat of this still young season for Connacht.
Maybe the most revealing of the numbers was the 74 minutes without an addition to the scoreboard between Ross Byrne’s conversion of Cormac Foley’s early try and the penalty that Ciaran Frawley sent between the sticks to make the game safe. As derbies go it had some bite but precious little taste.
It’s not the first time Connacht have been nilled at home by a provincial rival in the modern era. Munster actually did it twice in the same calendar year back in 2004 when winning 3-0 in Dubarry Park in January and by the same scoreline in Galway at the end of December.
If calming a crowd energised by last week’s win here against Graham Rowntree’s strugglers was the plan then Leinster executed it to perfection with Foley claiming a third-minute try after Josh van der Flier peeled off a maul and ploughed through Cormac Reilly and Jordan Porch.
As tries go it was far too easy and it didn’t bode well for the contest but Leinster couldn’t use that as a springboard as a combination of poor handling, Connacht’s nuisance levels and that wet and windy backdrop conspired against them.
Connacht went after every one of their lineouts, and with some success, while Niall Murray batted down two Foley box kicks and it all added up to a frustrating spell for the visitors who made nothing out of repeat visits to the 22.
Dan Sheehan found himself held up off the back of another maul while Ross Byrne couldn’t land a difficult penalty from distance and then the worm gradually turned with the hosts clawing their way up the possession and territory charts.
Problem was that errors in attack weren’t confined to one side. Reilly chucked one long pass into the stands near Leinster’s line when a calmer head would have prevailed and two mauls in first-half injury-time were successfully repelled.
Seven-nil at the break.
The scoring drought dragged on through the entirety of the third quarter and more, the main threat to the numbers on the board coming from Ross Byrne who sent another long penalty attempt wide after he had been tackled off the ball by the ever-busy Murray.
A small frisson or two of excitement finally flitted through the Galway venue as the night wore on, Dan Sheehan racing clear and into the Connacht half off one break and then van der Flier following suit with the result that Murray saw yellow and Frawley added the three.
C Fitzgerald, J Porch, B Ralston, D Hawkshaw, M Hansen, J Carty, C Reilly, P Dooley, D Heffernan, F Bealham, N Murray, G Thornbury, J Murphy, S Hurley-Langton, P Boyle.
C Oliver for Murphy (21-34) and for Hurley-Langton (56); D Buckley for Dooley (46); C Blade for Reilly (50); O Dowling for Thornbury (56); G Stewart for and Heffernan and J Aungier for Bealham (both 60); C Booth for Boyle and Tom Daly for Fitzgerald (both 66).
J O'Brien, L Turner, G Ringrose, C Ngatai, R Russell, R Byrne, C Foley, E Byrne, D Sheehan, T Furlong, R Molony, J Ryan, C Doris, J van der Flier, J Conan.
Replacements: M Moloney for Conan (34); M Ala’alatoa for Furlong (HT); A Porter for E Byrne (46) and R Henshaw for Ngatai (both 46); N McCarthy for Foley (55); J McCarthy for Ryan (62); C Frawley for Russell (72); J McKee for Sheehan (80).
Frank Murphy (IRFU).
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