Leinster see off Sale Sharks to set up home Champions Cup semi against Toulon
Leinster's Harry Byrne watches on during a scrum. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Leinster came good in the second half at the Aviva Stadium this evening to overcome Sale Sharks and book their place at the semi-final stage of the European Champions Cup for a sixth season in succession.
Just four points ahead at the midway point after originally struggling to play with the same attacking fluidity that was evident in their Round of 16 victory against Edinburgh last Sunday, Leinster proceeded to outscore their cross-channel rivals 36-10 in the second half and set up a forthcoming bout with Toulon in the penultimate phase of the competition at the south Dublin venue.
There was early disappointment in this contest for Leinster’s Alex Usanov with the 20-year-old loosehead prop being withdrawn less than four minutes into his first Champions Cup start because of injury. It was Tipperary native Jerry Cahir who took his spot in the front-row and the hosts appeared to find their feet not long after his introduction.
At the tail end of an extended attacking spell inside the Sale ‘22’, Jamison Gibson-Park released Dan Sheehan for a diving finish underneath the posts on the stroke of 10 minutes.
Harry Byrne comfortably added the bonuses to this score and this offered Leinster the early platform they craved.
Yet whereas there was a haphazard element to last weekend’s showdown with Edinburgh, this last-eight clash was threatening to be a far cagier affair.
George Ford is currently in the midst of his fourth season with Sale and the England fly-half opened the English Premiership outfit’s account by slotting over a penalty with just under 35 minutes on the clock.
While Sharks back-row Dan Du Preez was sin-binned moments later for a deliberate knock-on to a pass that was heading towards Josh van der Flier on the right-flank, Leinster had to be content with a 7-3 interval lead.
Nevertheless, the Blues still had time on the resumption to make the most of their temporary numerical supremacy and their second try of the game eventually arrived in the 44th minute. After Gibson-Park, Byrne, Tommy O’Brien and Hugo Keenan had all combined to release him into space, Ryan Baird passed inside for Keenan to touch down at a right-hand angle.
Although Byrne was wide of the mark off his latest conversion attempt, Leinster briefly had a two-man advantage after Sale prop Si McIntyre was yellow carded for a high tackle on James Ryan in the lead-up to Keenan’s five-pointer.
Despite Ford knocking over his second penalty just before Du Preez returned on 47 minutes, their Irish counterparts created further daylight when Jack Conan picked out his fellow back-row Baird for a converted try in advance of McIntyre’s own re-emergence to the field of play.
The visitors were restored to their full compliment of players in the wake of this latest effort, but Sale’s challenge had been significantly deflated by this juncture and Leinster sensed an opportunity to place the outcome beyond all doubt.
An excellent catch by Keenan off a Byrne ‘Garryowen’ had the eastern province back into enemy territory once again on 57 minutes. Having crossed the whitewash in similar style six days earlier, All Blacks star Rieko Ioane raced over on the left-hand side for a try that was supplemented by another Byrne bonus strike.
O’Brien also maintained his impressive scoring form of recent weeks by dotting down inside the closing-quarter, before Sale eventually responded with a well-worked try from replacement Alex Wills.
However, Leinster were determined to have the final say and after booting a routine penalty between the posts, Byrne also supplied the extras to a breakaway score from Jamie Osborne on the stroke of full-time.
: Tries: D Sheehan, H Keenan, R Baird, J Ioane, T O’Brien, J Osborne Cons: H Byrne 5 Pens: H Byrne
: Tries: A Wills Cons: G Ford Pens: G Ford 2
: H Keenan (C Frawley 71); T O’Brien, G Ringrose (R Henshaw 60), J Osborne, J Ioane; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park (L McGrath 65); A Usanov (J Cahir 4), D Sheehan, T Furlong (T Clarkson 55); J McCarthy (M Deegan 9-22), J Ryan (R Kelleher 67); R Baird (M Deegan 61), J van der Flier (S Penny 50), J Conan.
: J Carpenter (A Wills h-t); T Roebuck, R Du Preez (M Louw 60), R Ma’asi-White, T O’Flaherty; G Ford, G Warr (D Hanson 67); S McIntyre (R McEachran 65), E Caine (A Longstaff 65), A Opoku-Fordjour (J Harper 65); E Van Rhyn, B Bamber, J Vermeulen (R Logan 71), S Dugdale (J Gilmore 71), D Du Preez.
: P Brousset (France).
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