Harry Byrne hasn’t enjoyed the smoothest or most linear of careers at Leinster but he has surely never had a more enjoyable moment than landing the match-winning penalty with the game’s final kick in the third minute overtime to seal Leinster’s throbbing, dramatic and wild 25-24 win over La Rochelle.
After Sam Prendergast had missed a second of thee conversions following Josh van der Flier’s 67th minute try, Byrne then assumed the goal-kicking and hit the upright after Robbie Henshaw’s 70th minute try.
But, having fallen behind when Nolann le Garrec converted Ihaia West’s second try, Leinster were given one last chance at salvation and there was never any doubt in Byrne’s mind that he would take responsibility and signalled he knew he had landed the penalty, which was about ten metres in from the right touchline.
“Harry Byrne wanted it,” said Caelan Doris afterwards when asked about the discussion which had preceded the final penalty. “I felt confident [in him].” Ironically, it was from probably the same position that Leinster could have opted to level last season’s semi-final in Leinster’s defeat to Northampton.
“It was special, definitely special,” Byrne told Premier Sports.
“I guess you don’t realise until after the kick has gone over, watching it eagerly, but yeah delighted it went over.”
Asked about the on-field discussion before that decisive kick, Byrne said: “Not much, I just said to Caelan ‘I want it’. I wanted to take it, I’d taken the one before and hit it off the post, but I’d hit it well. So, I felt I wasn’t going to miss that one.”
Leinster’s Harry Byrne celebrates after kicking a penalty in the last minute of the game. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho
It was similar to the kick landed by his older brother Ross when Leinster beat Ulster in a dramatic Round of 16 tie three seasons ago.
“It was a straight kick, I’d probably played for a draw a little bit with the first one so I just put it down and hit it dead centre and struck through it.”
“It was chaotic, wasn’t it?” added Byrne of the match itself. “We wanted to play and keep it on the pitch, we probably didn’t realise that they wanted to do it as much as we wanted to do it. It just turned into a bit of a ding dong battle and it was just who would break first.”
Asked if it was part of Leinster’s gameplan to tire La Rochelle, Byrne said: “It was 100 per cent a plan, we wanted to keep the ball in play as much as we could and back our fitness. We spoke about it all week. To come on into that environment with slower bodies, arguably, it’s nice and you can inject a bit of tempo into the game.
“It’s definitely improving, having all the Lions back in it’s more consistent and having more time together every day in training and we’re improving every day. We put a massive emphasis on training and training habits, that’s coming through for us. We’re more fluid in games for sure.”
Leinster have now won eight matches in a row while still copping plenty of criticism.
“Not at all. We don’t pay any attention to what goes on outside the building, I know everyone loves to thinks we do and talks about different battles, but we’re just focused on each other. Next focus is Bayonne, the focus is on five points. We spoke about getting 10 points from these two games, so yeah.”
“Never in doubt,” quipped Leo Cullen after the win, although the Leinster head coach once again somehow conveyed his innately calm demeanour even though his nerves must have been shredded by such a roller-coaster of a game.
Leinster’s head coach Leo Cullen and Joe McCarthy after the game. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
“I thought the players dug in incredibly well, didn’t they? When we went behind, when it was 17-12 at that stage, we were hanging in there for a period. We had to deal with a bit of disruption during the game,” he said, in reference to suffering injuries to Ciaran Frawley and Paddy McCarthy, as well as yellow cards to the excellent Tommy O’Brien and Joe McCarthy.
“We probably just dug in there at different stages. We just stayed in the game, kept fighting and eventually took an opportunity.
Fair play to Harry, who stepped up and kicked the goal at the end.”
But Cullen conceded: “It was far from a perfect performance. We started the game well. There’s probably a bit of discipline that gets us in a bit of trouble, two yellow cards. It’s very hard to impose your game when you’re down to 14 men at this level, because you’re up against a good team.
“Overall, to find a way at the end is probably the most pleasing bit, because we’ve had to do a little bit of that this year. Think of Leicester away, even when you’re nine or 10 points down against Ulster at half-time. The bench guys had a big impact that day to try and dog out a win.
“Munster, just the way that game plays out, you have to find a way somehow to win. It’s pleasing that we are finding a way.
The group are showing strong characteristics. It’s not necessarily us imposing our game, but we’re finding a way somehow, which is good.”