{"id":344097,"date":"2025-12-12T22:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/344097\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T22:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:46:07","slug":"harry-byrne-kicks-leinster-to-champions-cup-victory-at-leicester-champions-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/344097\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Byrne kicks Leinster to Champions Cup victory at Leicester | Champions Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Byrne\u2019s goal-kicking proved the difference as error-strewn Leinster held off a determined Leicester to claim a 23-15 Investec Champions Cup<\/a> victory at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.<\/p>\n

Each team scored two tries but three penalties and a conversion from Byrne were decisive as the bottom side Leicester\u2019s European campaign continued to falter and they remain pointless after their opening two fixtures.<\/p>\n

Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan scored Leinster\u2019s tries, with Sam Prendergast\u2019s conversion ensuring that the spirited Tigers finished with nothing to show for their efforts.<\/p>\n

The wings Adam Radwan and Ollie Hassell-Collins scored Leicester\u2019s tries, with Billy Searle adding a penalty and a conversion.<\/p>\n

Prior to kick-off, the visitors lost Tadhg Furlong from their starting lineup and within three minutes, Jack Conan had departed to fail a head injury assessment.<\/p>\n

Despite these injury setbacks, Leinster looked to have taken the lead when a pre-planned move saw Robbie Henshaw knock down a long lineout throw to Tommy O\u2019Brien, who raced over but TMO replays revealed that Henshaw had started his run from an offside position.<\/p>\n

The visitors\u2019 injury woes continued when Jimmy O\u2019Brien left the field with a leg problem before a major melee developed after James Lowe took exception to a tackle in the air from Radwan.<\/p>\n

Jamison Gibson-Park touches down in the corner for Leinster\u2019s first try. Photograph: Ashley Western\/Colorsport\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The Irish continued to dominate the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead with a straightforward penalty from Byrne \u2013 but this was soon nullified by one from Searle to leave the scores level at the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Remarkably the Tigers then scored the first try of the game when Leinster lost possession in the home 22 and Radwan fly-hacked the loose ball three times along the right-hand touchline before crossing over.<\/p>\n

Byrne kicked his second penalty but on the stroke of half-time the home side scored another try when Hassell-Collins latched on to a well-judged crossfield kick from Searle to pounce as the Irish defence dithered. Searle missed the conversion but Leicester took a 15-6 lead into the break.<\/p>\n

Within four minutes of the restart, Searle had a chance to extend that advantage but his 40-metre penalty attempt sailed wide. Five minutes later, Leinster roared back into contention when the home side lost control of the ball at a scrum in their own 22. Gibson-Park capitalised by seizing possession before brushing aside two weak tackles to score.<\/p>\n

That try was the spur for Leinster to put their opponents under the cosh as they conceded continual penalties, one of which Byrne kicked to give his team a one-point lead going into the final quarter.<\/p>\n

That was Byrne\u2019s final action of the night as he was replaced by Prendergast and the visitors sealed victory with a converted try from Sheehan after a lineout drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Byrne\u2019s goal-kicking proved the difference as error-strewn Leinster held off a determined Leicester to claim a 23-15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-344097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}