URC: Leinster 52 Connacht 17
It was a game of two halves – the first of which Leinster edged 19-17, the second of which they won 33-0 – in a URC interprovincial clash that also required two referees after Andrew Brace was replaced by Keane Davison at the interval.
The primary transformation in fortune for the home side was much improved discipline and accuracy in the second half that enabled the attacking aspect of their patterns to flourish. What had been a rip-roaring contest for the first half an hour, after which Connacht deservedly led, took on a remarkably different complexion.
Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, Thomas Clarkson and Jack Conan did a great deal of the heavy lifting, Jamison Gibson-Park was back to his metronomic best alongside the influential Sam Prendergast, while Charlie Tector and Tommy O’Brien excelled in a backline that regularly prised open a tiring and overworked Connacht defence. The bench gave the home side real momentum.
Leinster weren’t spooked by the late disruption in personnel terms that saw Rabah Slimani pull up lame in the warm-up. Andrew Porter went from the starting team to the bench to cover tighthead, Jack Boyle was parachuted into the run-on team at loosehead while there was one further alteration with Harry Byrne crying off to be replaced by Andrew Osborne on the bench.
Sam Gilbert in action for Connacht. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
The home side scored two quick tries in the opening seven minutes, the first from Sheehan, after O’Brien’s two touches in the one phase of play, the second of which was a gorgeous 20-metre pass to send his captain over for the 48th try of his Leinster career.
O’Brien was again a central figure as he contested Sam Prendergast’s chip kick with David Hawkshaw, and Charlie Tector snapped up the loose ball to dive over under the posts. The Leinster outhalf kicked both conversions and at 14-0 after seven minutes the home side seemed set fair for a lucrative evening on the scoreboard.
Connacht temporarily lost number eight Sean Jansen to a blood injury and Matthew Devine permanently to a HIA, but showed great character and produced some brilliant passages of rugby to lead 17-14 two minutes shy of the interval.
Leinster will rue the part they played in that revival, conceding 13 penalties, two free-kicks – according to one set of statistics – and losing Joe McCarthy to the sin bin for what referee Andrew Brace deemed a “cynical offence” close to the Leinster line.
Joshua Kenny runs in a try for Leinster. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Brace whistled a sonata in the opening 40-minutes – he didn’t reappear for the second half, replaced by Keane Davison – as he took exception to both teams’ work at the breakdown. The scrums were an utter shambles despite his frequent warnings and willingness to blow for free-kicks and penalties.
It shouldn’t deflect from some lovely attacking rugby from Connacht, clever in movement, offloading and lines of running. Hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin scored a try from a five-metre tap penalty, surviving a double hit to spin out and reach over the line.
Finlay Bealham followed him over the Leinster line on 35 minutes while the home side were short-handed, the prop barging over after a neat switch play from a ruck. Fullback Sam Gilbert kicked two conversions and a penalty in between to enable the visitors to lead 17-14.
The home side mustered a telling riposte just before the interval. O’Brien, appearing off his blindside wing, released Kenny to scoot down the touchline and when the ball was worked to the other side of the pitch Diarmuid Mangan battered his way through several tackles, the precursor to a Prendergast try.
A confluence of events transformed the contest after the interval, a half in which Leinster scored five tries as part of a 33-point haul; a new referee in Davison, fewer transgressions at the breakdown, and a home side whose fluency and speed of thought and deed improved exponentially in accumulating the flurry of points.
Bundee Aki in action for Connacht against Leinster. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
It was something of an O’Brien/Tector masterclass, bolstered by high quality input from a supporting cast that included impetus generated by the bench. Tector’s brilliant line led to a try for Brian Deeney four minutes after the restart for the bonus-point, while the fifth try was a fitting reward for O’Brien’s dynamic industry, the right wing appearing between the centres to crash through a couple of tackles to go under the posts.
Tector grabbed Leinster’s sixth try, his second of the match, and when he made a superb read in defence to intercept and take off for the Connacht line from long-range it briefly appeared as if he would celebrate a hat-trick. Finn Treacy hunted him down but not before the Leinster centre had offloaded to the supporting O’Brien.
Connacht’s bravery had been engulfed by a blue tidal wave, and Joshua Kenny completed the try-scoring salvo with his team’s eighth, as he galloped down the wing to outpace the cover. The final scoreline was tough on the visitors.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 4 mins: Sheehan try, Prendergast con 7-0; 8: Tector try, Prendergast con 14-0; 19: Tierney-Martin try, Gilbert con 14-7; 27: Gilbert pen 14-10; 36: Bealham try, Gilbert con 14-17; 39: Prendergast try 19-17; Half-time 19-17; 44: Deeny try, Prendergast con 26-17; 52: O’Brien try, Prendergast con 33-17; 62: Tector try, Prendergast con 40-17; 67: O’Brien try, Prendergast con 47-17; 75: Kenny try 52-17
LEINSTER: C Frawley; T O’Brien, H Cooney, C Tector, J Kenny; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; J Boyle, D Sheehan (capt), T Clarkson; J McCarthy, B Deeny; D Mangan, W Connors, J Conan.
Replacements: A Porter for Boyle (36 mins), J van der Flier for Connors (46), M Deegan for Mangan (50), G McCarthy for Sheehan, J Cahir for Clarkson, L McGrath for Gibson-Park (all 64), A Osborne for Frawley (66), C O’Tighearnaigh for McCarthy (68).
Yellow card: J McCarthy (26 mins).
CONNACHT: S Gilbert; C Mullins, D Hawkshaw, B Aki, F Treacy; J Ioane, M Devine; D Buckley, D Tierney-Martin, F Bealham; J Joyce, D O’Connor; J Murphy, C Prendergast, S Jansen.
Replacements: P Boyle for Jansen (7-15 mins), B Murphy for Devine (11), P Boyle for Prendergast (51), B Bohan for Buckley, E de Buitlear for Tierney-Martin, F Barrett for Bealham, H West for Mullins (all 53), D Murray for Joyce (60), C Forde for Hawkshaw (64).
Referee: Andrew Brace.