Champions Cup: Leicester 15 Leinster 23
There may well come a time, later in the season, where a Friday night in Welford Road will be chalked up as a “champions” performance. Leinster, still wildly out of sorts, threatened to lose to a Tigers outfit shorn of a handful of heavy hitters. Defeat would have been catastrophic to their hopes of securing top seed and a home draw to the Champions Cup final in Bilbao.
Instead, they responded to a 15-6 half-time deficit, tries from Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan handing them four match points and, remarkably given the quality of performance, two wins from two to start European action.
Whatever the future narrative, the worrying aspects of this display cannot be overlooked. The scrum conceded too many penalties, Paddy McCarthy given a rough European evening by England tighthead Joe Heyes. Behind the set-piece, decision-making was poor. Skills were found lacking, passes out of place and offloads thrown when the time was not right. In a sign of Leinster’s unsharpened edge, when collisions were won and hands could be freed, the pass never materialised.
When brute force – not that this was lacking from player of the match Joe McCarthy – didn’t work, Leinster looked devoid of ideas. A handful of kicks sent to touch, not to mention a series of bizarre kicks, made out of desperation more than anything else, did not help the cause.
Pace kills. Leinster learned that to their detriment in a first half which saw them cough up a nine-point lead.
Both Leicester wings showed superior speed to score two opportunistic tries. The Tigers’ clinical edge was in stark contrast to the inability of the visitors to break through despite all their possession.
Leicester’s Adam Radwan celebrates scoring a try. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
It started off with Adam Radwan’s kick after Robbie Henshaw spilled in contact. One nudge forwards. A second. Then a third. Try time. In a footrace with James Lowe and Harry Byrne, Radwan was always going to be the winner.
It would have been a sweet moment for the England wing, given a pair of earlier shoving matches instigated by Lowe, the latter when the Leinsterman landed awkwardly as Radwan inadvertently took him out in the air. It was a difficult night for Lowe, his pantomime villain status not helped by a poor pass which butchered a try-scoring opportunity for Rónan Kelleher.
The second pace-inspired blow for Leinster came right on the stroke of half-time. The ball went far enough into the backline to draw up the backfield cover, Searle dropping into the pocket in a pre-planned move. This time Ollie Hassell-Collins had the beating of the back-pedalling Ciarán Frawley – on for the felled Jimmy O’Brien. His hoof forward was not dealt with by the covering Lowe, Hassell-Collins winning a second race to the loose ball as it rolled towards the line.
Problems for Leinster who had a score of their own chalked off after Tommy O’Brien took a deft Henshaw pass from a long throw over the lineout. Turns out Henshaw twitched too early, starting his line before the ball left the hooker’s hands. No try.
That decision was part of a busy opening 15 minutes for referee Pierre Brousset. Two minutes in, he adjudged that Freddie Steward’s high shot on Jack Conan warranted no sanction given the backrow’s slip. It was the correct call, even if Conan’s night was done as he did not return from his HIA.
Leinster were fortunate not to concede the first score after the break, Searle pulling a penalty from distance. Instead, they took their turn to record an opportunistic, maybe even undeserved score. The latest Tigers scrum march looked to lead to a penalty, only for the ball to roll out of the set-piece. Gibson-Park reacted first, scooping, handing-off a tackle and breaking for the corner. Byrne’s conversion narrowed the gap to just two.
Leinster maintained the pressure. Leicester were warned for penalties inside the 22 but points were not forthcoming, Joe McCarthy held up over the line. Just shy of the hour mark, Leo Cullen changed his props. With the new bodies came an uptick in scrum fortune, Rabah Slimani winning the penalty which allowed Leinster to retake the lead.
They held their ascendancy, due to a lack of Leicester quality more than anything else. Sheehan’s late maul try ensured a flattering final margin.
Scoring sequence – 15: Byrne pen 0-3; 20: Searle pen 3-3; 21: Radwan try, Searle con 10-3; 32: Byrne pen 10-6; 40: Hassell-Collins try 15-6; Half-time 15-6; 50: Gibson-Park try, Byrne con 15-13; 61: Byrne pen 15-16; 72: Sheehan try, Prendergast pen.
Leicester: Freddie Steward; Adam Radwan, Will Wand, Solomone Kata, Ollie Hassell-Collins; Billy Searle, Tom Whiteley; Nicky Smith, Jamie Blamire, Joe Heyes; Cameron Henderson, Harry Wells; James Thompson, Tommy Reffell (capt), Joaquín Moro.
Replacements: Archie van der Flier for Smith, Ollie Allan for Whiteley, Orlando Bailey for Kata (all 62 mins), Finn Theobald-Thomas for Blamire, Will Hurd for Heyes, Sam Williams for Wells (all 67), Joseph Woodward for Wand (76),
Not used: Tom Manz
Leinster: Jimmy O’Brien; Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Paddy McCarthy, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Max Deegan for Conan (3 mins), Ciarán Frawley for Jimmy O’Brien (12), Dan Sheehan for Kelleher (48), Jack Boyle for P McCarthy and Rabah Slimani for Clarkson (both 59), Sam Prendergast for Byrne (62), Diarmuid Mangan for van der Flier, Luke McGrath for Gibson-Park (both 76).
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)