James Lowe breaks Leinster try record as they clinch URC semi-final slot
James Lowe now has 71 tries for Leinster making him the province's all-time top try scorer. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Leinster worked at least some of their Champions Cup final frustrations off against the Lions with a URC quarter-final cakewalk on a night where James Lowe went out on his own as the club’s record try scorer.
Lowe’s 68th-minute effort brought him to 70, one ahead of Shane Horgan, in a game where he earned his 100th cap. It was celebrated with due delight by the player and his teammates. His 71st, Leinster’s ninth, brought the scoring to an end.
All this at a time when there are growing fears that he will leave the club over the summer.
If that is one concern on a very acceptable night for the province then the crowd is another as just 9,493 people turned up on Lansdowne Road. That’s more than 3,000 down on the same fixture last season, which in itself had alarm bells ringing.
Leo Cullen’s side will now face the Stormers back here at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday afternoon and maybe the head coach will echo his call of 12 months ago for more fans to put their hands in their pockets for that.
This was far too easy to be anything more than a superficial balm on the exposed wound that was that heavy loss to Bordeaux-Begles in Bilbao, but Leinster can hardly be blamed for doing everything they could on that particular score.
If it was some way cathartic for the collective then it won’t have done Sam Prendergast any harm given the recalled out-half played a pivotal role in gelling the attack and kicked seven out of nine conversions, some from very tricky angles.
One concern may be the announcement pre-kick-off that Tadhg Furlong was being taken out of the starting XV and replaced by Thomas Clarkson. Joe McCarthy limped off late on too. It will be a few days before more is known about them.
The Lions started as fluently and with as much intent as you would expect from a side that had stayed in Ireland to prepare for this game for two whole weeks after losing their last regular season game to Leinster at this same stadium.
Ultimately, that came to nothing and Leinster began to take control.
Some of the home team’s attacking rugby was superb and it carved the Lions open for the first try after just ten minutes when Jimmy O’Brien shot a long pass out wide right for Dan Sheehan to score after the centre had been softened up.
O’Brien might have done better in finishing off another flowing move a few minutes later. That didn’t much matter when Hugo Keenan touched down soon after off another good team effort and a delicious delayed pass by Prendergast.
That was Leinster 14-0 up and starting to cruise but there were just enough dropped balls and other small errors that conspired against them pushing on there and then. The Lions were having their own problems, among them a habit of kicking straight to touch.
All of this kept the scoreboard static for over 20 minutes until Thomas Clarkson came dangerously close to a tip tackle on Lions scrum-half Nico Steyn and got the yellow he deserved for it.
Nothing malicious but clumsy enough for a seat in the bin.
The Lions took advantage from the penalty with Henco van Wyk crashing over from close range despite Steyn being hooked around the neck in the build-up by Andrew Porter. A missed conversion left it 14-5.
The Lions were back in it, but not for long. Leinster’s response was impressive with another fluid attack through the hands followed by some punishing power runs until Joe McCarthy set James Ryan up for the simplest of executions.
Up 21-5 at the break, they weren’t long in putting the game to bed. Scott Penny’s try three minutes after the restart meant they had outscored the Lions 12-5 in the ten minutes Clarkson was off the field.
Prendergast was soon running three-quarters the length of the field after Chris Smith spilled the pill in a crunching Max Deegan tackle to claim the province’s fifth. The meat of the day was done, everything else was very much gravy.
One breakaway van Wyk try aside, it continued to be all Leinster against a side that also lost full-back Quan Horn to the sinbin after 54 minutes.
Gus McCarthy steamed over off the back of a lineout maul, Jimmy O’Brien got another - and promptly apologised to Lowe for not giving him an easy feed - and then Lowe himself popped up on the far wing shortly after to claim his place in the record books.
“One more year,” chanted the crowd of a man whose contract expires shortly. Lowe’s response was to go and get the ninth in the same corner in injury-time. Lots of smiling faces.
Some difference from the San Mames, but a lot left to do.
H Keenan; J O’Brien, R Ioane, J Osborne, J Lowe; S Prendergast, K McGrath; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Clarkson; J McCarthy, J Ryan; M Deegan, S Penny, C Doris.
J van der Flier for Doris and G McCarthy for Sheehan (both 53); D Mangan for Ryan (54); R Slimani for Clarkson and A Usanov for Porter (both 56); J Gibson-Park for McGrath and H Byrne for Keenan (both 63); R Henshaw for McCarthy (66).
Q Horn; A Davids, H van Wyk, R Kriel, E Cronje; C Smith, N Steyn; SJ Kotze, PJ Botha, S Lombard; R Nothnagel, D Landsberg; S Mahashe, B Hlekani, F Horn.
R Jonker for Cronje (11-22 and for van Wyk (59); RF Schoeman for Lombard (46); F Marais for Botha (48): E Davids for Kotze and S Qoma for Landsberg (both 53); H Pead for Steyn (54); R Delport for Hlekani (59); JC Pretorious for F Horn (63).
S Grove-White (SRU).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
