RG Snyman to the fore in Leinster stroll as Connacht left empty-handed

Snyman continues to revel since his summer move from Munster and his experience was key as Leinster bossed matters against Connacht

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024 - 21:25

John Fallon

URC: Connacht 33 Leinster 12

RG Snyman again showed his class as an understrength Leinster side proved far too strong for a disappointing Connacht side in Galway.

Snyman continues to revel since his summer move from Munster and his experience was key as Leinster bossed matters throughout to maintain their perfect start to the season against a Connacht side who fell to their third inter-pro loss of this season’s URC campaign.

And unlike their defeats to Munster and Ulster when they picked up two losing points in each game, Connacht were left empty-handed in their own backyard as Leinster made it 30 match points from their last six league visits to Galway.

But win has come at a price for Leinster and Ireland with Ciaran Frawley limping off after just 16 minutes of a contest.

“We came out to have a bit of fun and make sure we got the job done,” said Snyman. “It was very physical but one of our talking points during the week was our discipline. But there is still a long road ahead of us this season.”

Leinster, with 72% territory, led 21-5 at the break having played with the strong wind behind them in the opening half.

Similar to their win over Munster at Croke Park a week earlier, Leinster looked set to have the tie wrapped up in the opening quarter as they raced in for two converted tries in the opening 16 minutes.

They penned Connacht inside their 22 from the outset and the pressure eventually told when Jamie Osborne, having initiated the move with a good break from deep, finished when he stepped inside Shayne Bolton to score.

Frawley, starting his third game in a row at out-half, added the conversion but his night ended after 16 minutes when he suffered an ankle injury in a tackle by David Hawkshaw as he helped set up a try in the right corner for Liam Turner.

Ross Byrne replaced Frawley and promptly landed the touchline conversion to push the lead out to 14-0.

Connacht, kicking far too much from the hand into the strong wind, just could not get out of their own half despite the best efforts of Bolton to punch holes in the Leinster line.

Leinster got in for a third try from James Ryan after 22 minutes when a kick from out-half Josh Ioane was charged down but on review, the officials spotted that it was James Culhane who had blocked the kick and not Ryan who was marginally in front of him.

Connacht, keeping the ball more in hand, finally managed to work their way out of their defence and while Ioane failed to find touch from a penalty, he made no mistake from his second effort and Connacht, after Bundee Aki was stopped on the line, recycled and Sean O’Brien made it over six minutes from the break.

But Leinster finished the half the stronger, winning a penalty from Rabah Slimani in his first start on a Connacht scrum, and after a few drives from the subsequent penalty after going to the corner, Snyman picked and scored one-handed just before the interval, with Byrne’s conversion making it 21-5 at the break.

Leinster wrapped up the bonus point six minutes after the restart after building the phases into the wind and Max Deegan did well to pick a low pass from Byrne to score in the left corner.

A great break by hooker Gus McCarthy, with Jamison Gibson-Park in support, almost yielded another try on the restart but Aki did well to get across and deny Andrew Osborne in the left corner.

Connacht had chances to reduce the margin but lacked an edge in attack, failing to punish Leinster when they butchered a lineout ten metres from their own line, while Hugo Keenan did superbly to deny Paul Boyle when replacement scrum-half Caolin Blade.

Connacht got a lifeline when Cathal Forde scored shortly after coming on when he stepped inside Jamie Osborne to score under the posts, with Ioane’s conversion cutting the gap to 26-12.

But Osborne’s younger brother Andrew got immediate revenge on the restart when he fielded Byrne’s kick ahead of Forde to race in and score Leinster’s fifth try, which Byrne did well to convert to make it 33-12.

Keenan executed another brilliant tackle when he came across to deny Connacht replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin as the league leaders battled to the end as if defending a single-score lead.

Scorers for Connacht: Tries: S O’Brien, C Forde. Con: J Ioane.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: J Osborne, L Turner, RG Snyman, M Deegan, A Osborne. Cons: R Byrne (3), C Frawley.

Connacht: P O’Conor; S Bolton, D Hawkshaw (C Forde 62), B Aki, S Cordero (H Gavin 59); J Ioane, B Murphy (C Blade 56); D Buckley (P Dooley 52), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin 56), F Bealham (J Aungier 52); J Joyce (N Murray 52), D Murray; C Prendergast (c), S O’Brien (S Jansen 56), P Boyle.

Leinster: H Keenan; L Turner (H Cooney 74), G Ringrose, J Osborne, A Osborne; C Frawley (R Byrne 17), J Gibson-Park (F Gunne 71); J Boyle (A Porter 44), G McCarthy (S Smith 74), R Slimani (T Clarkson 44); RG Snyman (B Deeny 70), J Ryan (c); M Deegan, W Connors (S Penny 59), J Culhane.

Referee: E Cross (IRFU).