Leinster maintain perfect start with second half surge over Connacht
BONUS POINT: Rob Russell of Leinster scores his side's fourth try during the United Rugby Championship between Leinster and Connacht at RDS Arena in Dublin. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
New year but very much the same old story as Leinster maintained their perfect start to the season with their eleventh straight win in the URC to add to their two European wins as Leo Cullen’s men kicked off 2023 in style.
They didn’t have it all their own way against a gutsy understrength Connacht side, but the leaders showed their class when it was required and had the bonus point in the bag by the 45th minute at the RDS before turning the screw in the closing stages.
There was concern in the final quarter when Leinster and Ireland captain Johnny Sexton had to go off after a head clash with Jarrad Butler, with the out-half heading to the stand and placing a large icebag on his left cheek.
Jordan Larmour led the onslaught for a Leinster side who ran in seven tries and while their lineout didn’t function – they lost six of their own throws — everything else was finely tuned for the league leaders.
Connacht, minus three of their five current Irish internationals Mack Hansen, Bundee Aki and Finlay Bealham, could have done with a strong start, but they found themselves back behind their own posts in just over two minutes.
Leinster worked the ball off a lineout penalty with skipper Sexton pushing the attack line to the limit before offloading for Liam Turner to burst through and score his first Leinster try in eleven appearances.
Sexton surprisingly missed the conversion from the right and with the Leinster lineout malfunctioning, they were unable to build on their promising start and it was Connacht who hit back after 16 minutes when they too scored off a lineout.
David Hawkshaw, one of four players to move from Leinster to the Sportsground during the summer, provided the moment of magic when he skipped inside Sexton and Rob Russell to score, with Jack Carty converting to make it 7-5 to the visitors.
Another one of the four to move during the summer, loosehead Peter Dooley, was pinged for not rolling away inside the 22 after 25 minutes. Leinster went to the corner, worked it back in and Wexford native Brian Deeny crowned his first start with his maiden try when he spotted a gap after Cian Prendergast left his pillar to commit to the ruck and the 22-year-old didn’t need any further invitation to go for the line. Sexton’s conversion made it 12-7.
It got worse for Connacht eight minutes from the break. Hawkshaw had the ball ripped from him in a promising attack by Charlie Ngatai and from the counter-attack Larmour skipped inside a couple of tackles inside halfway down the right before going wide to his full-back Jimmy O’Brien who powered forward. His grubber bounced kindly into Larmour’s arms after Carty lost his footing and the winger dashed in to score, with Sexton converting for 19-7.
But Connacht, ending the half with 53% possession, cut the gap. They won seven from seven on their own throws with Leinster losing five of their own lineouts before the break and were rewarded with a penalty to the left corner which saw them pound the home line before Carty slipped a neat pass to centre Tom Farrell to score. Carty miscued the conversion and that left the league leaders 19-12 in front at the interval.
It took Leinster less than five minutes to get the bonus point. Larmour, coming off his right wing, was involved in the build-up and then provided a sublime finish in the left corner, with Hawkshaw getting injured in his attempts to tackle him and he was stretchered off. Sexton skewed the conversion from the left across goal.
Connacht lost skipper Carty to a yellow card after 52 minutes after Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park had tried to take a quick penalty but the visitors survived the binning without conceding a score with Leinster, usually so lethal when they have an extra man, never looked like extending their lead in that period.
Both sides started emptying their benches with the introduction of loosehead Denis Buckley marking the first time that Connacht had four players from Roscommon on the field at the same time.
Leinster got their fifth try eleven minutes from time after bursts from Caelan Doris and Ngatai and after it was recycled replacement scrum-half Cormac Foley, just on the field, swung a massive pass wide to the right leaving Russell with the easiest of tasks to score his seventh try in as many games this season in the URC.
Leinster didn’t relent with the game in the bag and they ran in two more tries in the closing minutes with Ngatai putting Ryan Baird through to score.
And then Larmour again came off his wing and combined with Russell to send Josh van der Flier over for a superb score to wrap up another impressive win.
Tries - J Larmour (2), L Turner, B Deeny, R Russell, R Baird, J van der Flier. Cons - J Sexton (2), H Byrne.
Tries - D Hawkshaw, T Farrell. Cons - J Carty.
J O'Brien; J Larmour, L Turner (J Osborne 63), C Ngatai (Scott Penny 73), R Russell; J Sexton (H Byrne 64), J Gibson Park (C Foley 68); M Milne (A Porter 50), R Kelleher (J McKee 63), M Ala'alatoa (V Abdaladze 63); B Deeny (A Soroka 50), J Ryan; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.
T O'Halloran (B Ralston 46); D Kilgallen, T Farrell, D Hawkshaw (T Daly 45), J Porch; J Carty, C Blade (K Marmion 68); P Dooley (D Buckley 53), D Heffernan (S Delahunt 70), D Robertson-McCoy (S Illo 53); D Murray, N Murray; C Prendergast (O Dowling 58), S Hurley-Langton (C Oliver 53), J Butler.
Eoghan Cross (IRFU).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
