Montpellier 14
Leinster 23
Murray Kinsella reports from Altrad Stadium
ONE HAS TO think that if Leinster could, they would happily play their Champions Cup quarter-final next weekend.
The eastern province’s form is exceptional and they secured a clean sweep of Pool 3 with victory under a grey sky in Montpellier, this success also ensuring that they emerge from the group stages as the top seeds in Europe.
Though they were sloppy for much of the opening half, Leo Cullen’s side always had the scoring power and quality to overcome a physically imposing Montpellier side.
Even without their rested leaders Johnny Sexton and Scott Fardy, Leinster were able to deliver a hugely impressive second-half performance, in which they kept Montpellier scoreless, to secure their sixth win from six pool games.
This was also their ninth consecutive victory in all competitions and one has to think that Cullen and Stuart Lancaster would willingly take the opportunity to roll on with this European campaign in the coming weeks.
Instead, the Champions Cup favourites must wait until the end of March to welcome their knock-out opposition to Dublin, hoping that the Six Nations does not deprive them of any key men.
That said, Leinster’s depth is a strength and the likes of James Ryan, back in the second row and making his impact felt, point to their enviable options. 20-year-old Jordan Larmour didn’t see much of the ball for Leinster on the right wing but performed his defensive duties on Nemani Nadolo well.
Over on the other wing, James Lowe again delivered offloading thrills but some of his decision-making, both defensively and on the ball, will have caused concern for the Leinster coaches.
Out-half Ross Byrne was among the try scorers, as well as kicking a conversion and two penalties, while Robbie Henshaw and Sean Cronin also dotted down for Leinster.
Among the negatives for Leinster was their error count in the opening half, following an early try from Byrne. The Irish side trailed 14-8 at the half-time break after inviting Montpellier into the contest.
The recovery was thoroughly convincing, however, and this three-try victory ensures that Leinster finished the pool phase in style, with a final tally of 22 tries and 176 points scored over their six games.
Leinster’s fine start at Altrad Stadium saw them create a beauty of a fifth-minute try as Byrne sparked a kick return and finished the sweeping move himself.
After gathering Montpellier’s exit, the out-half hit Lowe, who threw a basketball-style overhead pass to the impressive Jamison Gibson-Park before accepting the return offload. Lowe was hauled down a metre short of the Montpellier tryline but Leinster calmly recycled for Gibson-Park to hit the unmarked Byrne on the left touchline with a skip pass.
The TMO review confirmed Gibson-Park’s pass hadn’t gone forward, and Byrne converted his first senior try for Leinster.
But Cullen’s men became increasingly sloppy thereafter, inviting Montpellier into the game with maul turnovers, missed tackles and intercepted passes.
Though Byrne extended Leinster’s lead with a penalty on the quarter mark, Montpellier soon found a meaty response. Lowe made a couple of defensive misreads in the build-up, before the French side opted to send a kickable penalty into the corner.
Their muscular pack marched over Leinster’s from five metres out, hooker Bismarck du Plessis the man to do down, and All Black Aaron Cruden converted superbly from wide to the left.
Leinster’s error count continued to rise sharply even after that warning and, again, Montpellier were happy to punish them as they sent another possible three-point penalty into the corner coming towards the break.
This time, they cleverly peeled around the back off a dummy maul, with Louis Picamoles sent thundering at the line before he drew Josh van der Flier and Dan Leavy into the tackle and offloaded deftly to Yacouba Camara to cross, Cruden converting again.
And Leinster needed a remarkably mobile try-saving tackle by tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong in the final minute of the half to deny the imposing Nemani Nadolo down the left, ensuring the scoreline remained 14-8 in the hosts’ favour at half time.
While Nadolo was denied in that instance, he couldn’t prevent the hard-working Robbie Henshaw from scoring Leinster’s second try shortly after the interval.
Leinster’s forwards had pummelled at the hosts’ tryline for phase after phase, but it was an excellent Gibson-Park pass that finally provided the scoring chance, allowing Rob Kearney to tip-on sharply to Henshaw.
The Ireland centre was one-on-one with Nadolo close to the right touchline but he stepped back inside the Fijian for a superb finish.
Though Byrne couldn’t convert, he did send Leinster back in front in the 50th minute with a penalty and the Irish province were rolling again.
Their brilliant start to the second half continued with a third try two minutes later, all sparked when lovely offloads from James Ryan and Leavy allowed Gibson-Park to kick deep into the Montpellier 22, where Cruden was forced to nudge the ball into touch under pressure from Lowe’s chase.
Leinster’s maul, so chastened by Montpellier’s first-half success, fired up powerfully and took Sean Cronin to within striking distance, the hooker barreling over from close-range and allowing Byrne to convert for a 23-14 lead.
Joey Carbery made his return from a fractured arm, replacing Kearney at fullback, as Leinster looked to close out the game comfortably.
Montpellier looked desperately for openings as they attempted to keep their European campaign alive, but even their close-range lineouts and mauls were now misfiring in the face of Leinster’s improvement, Devin Toner picking off one key close-range throw.
Few teams will fancy taking on this Leinster side later in the competition.
Montpellier scorers:
Tries: Bismarck du Plessis, Yacouba Camara
Conversions: Aaron Cruden [2 from 2]
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Ross Byrne, Robbie Henshaw, Sean Cronin
Conversions: Ross Byrne [1 from 3]
Penalties: Ross Byrne [2 from 2]
MONTPELLIER: Benjamin Fall; Timoci Nagusa (Jesse Mogg ’54), Frans Steyn (Joe Tomane ’67), Jan Serfontein, Nemani Nadolo; Aaron Cruden, Ruan Pienaar (Gela Aprasidze ’76); Mikheil Nariashvili (Yvan Watremez ’60), Bismarck Du Plessis (Romain Ruffenach ’73), Antoine Guillamon (Mohamed Haouas ’54); Nicholaas Van Rensburg (Julien Delannoy ’73), Konstantine Mikautadze; Kelian Galletier, Yacouba Camara (Fulgence Ouedraogo ’60), Louis Picamoles.
LEINSTER: Rob Kearney (Joey Carbery ’58); Jordan Larmour, Robbie Henshaw, Isa Nacewa (captain), James Lowe (Fergus McFadden ’69); Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath ’58); Cian Healy (Jack McGrath ’47), Seán Cronin (Bryan Byrne ’66), Tadhg Furlong (Andrew Porter ’66); Devin Toner, James Ryan (Ross Molony ’74); Dan Leavy (Jordi Murphy ’67), Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
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Agree with his comments in that regard but a bit rich coming from him as La Liga chief where Barca and Real carve up the TV rights with their own TV deals which dwarf the alms handed out to the rest. Could do with sorting his own shop too..
@alternativefacter: your right about the TV rights there has been slight improvement but still nowhere near enough in Spanish football
PSG and City just copying the financial doping model invented by the Spanish and Catalan governments.
@Stanley Baggins: that’s just plain ignorance. The Spanish government lost true control years ago over the sport . It wasn’t a plan it was just ineptitude . The Catalan government is a regional government and have nothing to do with it . Still you’ll get more likes cos people love to believe s#it€
He wasnt saying anything when Real were winning. How much debt has the goverment wiped clean for them?
@Kingshu: used to be the king, is the government at it now?
@Kingshu: he is the League President , he has two many enemies , the Spanish FA and UEFA/CL
@Dave O Keeffe: the King ??? Haha haha deluded ! That’s like saying it was Franco cos he was top dog in Europe .
The rest of the football world should seize & allow Real & Barca to dominate
Javier has made some excellent points.
It was okay when their lads were the biggest fish in the pond. I agree with him but its hypocritical on his part. The two he mentions can’t get within an ass’s roar of a final no matter how much they bend the rules.
@Hardly Normal: Wait
…at one point they were going to wind up Real Madrid. It would have taken the main Spanish banks down with them. State support???
@Tom McHugh: what point was that ? A date maybe ?
City’s record signing is £60 million, what is Barcelona’s or Real’s. And they apparently wanted this idiot to be chief executive of the Premier League.
@William Boland: city just buy buy buy and consistently price other teams out of signings. I think your forgetting PSG though. Remember the whole Neymar+Mbappe double transfer? That was beyond farcical
@William Boland: it’s not what they pay it’s who they pay it for ? Real and Barca also sell their players for often more than when signed , even Ronaldo’s fee for Juventus was technically more . Who do City sell for more than they paid for ??
@Limón Madrugada: in the last 5 years, who have City overpaid for? They got out of the race for Sanchez because they didn’t want to overpay for him, same as DeJong. You can say PSG City in no way created the market the way it is now.
@William Boland: I haven’t said they’ve overpaid for anyone . I’m saying if you spend 12 x50M that’s 600M whereas if you’re an extremely rich club like Real Madrid or Barca you spend 200M -300M because you’ve just sold Neymar , Ronaldo or even Morata for 70-100-250M , and you’ve picked up 100m for winning the CL .. or should I say 400M for winning it 4 times in 5 years . It’s the total spend that’s high not the price for the player .And how you generated the money to pay for him . Madrid generates 120M a year from Adidas alone . 120M from ticket sales . Barca even more . City don’t generate that income , but they can spend better than the best .
He’s right too..
But its ok for Barcelona and Real to buy La Liga every year
@Brysonpieters: Barca didn’t buy it this year . Nor last year . Madrid’s last League win included the European double and they made no significant additions to that years squad that made the difference . Madrid has spent its money recently on future players some of whom have just started to play a bit ( Vinicius Jr) or Rodrygo , yet to arrive . Their impact on Madrid’s league position is minimal