Connacht 12
Leinster 33
FIVE WEEKS INTO the season, it’s fair to start identifying trends.
Leinster love bonus-point wins, we know that. Five tries in Galway tonight against Connacht made it five bonus-point wins from five games for a perfect start to this URC campaign.
Leinster enjoy defending, seemingly taking an almost sadistic pleasure in tackling and scrambling and staying in the fight. They’re not perfect in defence but they seem to relish not having the ball under Jacques Nienaber’s guidance.
As was the case last weekend in Croker, Leinster’s opposition probably felt they created enough pressure and got into good enough field positions to pull off a comeback but it didn’t happen. It seems that when you think you have Leinster on the ropes, they’ve held back energy to land a haymaker out of the blue.
And as Leinster’s ruthless streak in the opposition 22 showed up again, Springboks second row RG Snyman continued his impressive settling-in period with an outstanding performance that featured some stunning offload, excellent lineout work, and plenty of big collisions. A missed tackle for one of Connacht’s tries was the only blot on his copy.
On a dry but windy night in front of a crowd of 6,117 at Dexcom Stadium, where the new stand is starting to take shape, Connacht had cause to rue a first-half performance in which they struggled to get out of their own 22.
Leinster punished them with a clinical performance, taking full advantage when they were handed opportunities to attack. When they get a good platform from lineouts in the 22, their power and sharp decision-making mean they are difficult to stop.
There is plenty of stuff to tidy up as they now look towards the final game of this six-week block at home against the Lions next weekend but the one real big negative was the loss of out-half Ciarán Frawley to an ankle injury after just 16 minutes.
The Skerries man looked to be in great pain as he limped off after Connacht’s David Hawkshaw landed on his ankle in a tackle. Leinster’s coaching staff and Ireland head coach Andy Farrell will be waiting anxiously for the diagnosis on that one.
Connacht, meanwhile, have a home clash against the Dragons here in Galway to look forward to next weekend. Having made a bright start to this URC season, it will hurt not to have gained any match points on home soil tonight. There were plenty of good bits for Pete Wilkins’ side to highlight but they needed to make their periods of pressure in Leinster territory count more often.
Leinster got off to a flyer with the wind behind them, Osborne scorching through for an early linebreak off a Snyman sweep pass before hitting Gibson-Park running a support line inside. Only an excellent track-back tackle from Santi Cordero denied the Leinster scrum-half.
But the visitors were over a minute later anyway as Leinster kicked down the line following a penalty against Denis Buckley for not rolling clear of a tackle. Leinster launched from close-range, showed their power, and Osborne finished with a tidy show of footwork, Frawley converting for a 7-0 lead.
With Connacht scrum-half Ben Murphy struggling badly with his box kick attempts, the home side were under prolonged pressure in their own 22 and Leinster soon had their second.
Another lineout platform saw them strike clinically, Snyman’s offload to Frawley doing damage before slick passes from Gibson-Park and fullback Hugo Keenan sent right wing Liam Turner over in the corner. That was when Frawley was injured, so Ross Byrne came on to kick the conversion for 14-0.
Leinster briefly thought they had their third in the 22nd minute amid more Connacht struggles to exit but the TMO review showed that try-scorer James Ryan had been ahead of James Culhane as he got the block on Josh Ioane’s chip kick attempt. Offside, score chalked off.
Connacht finally came into the game thereafter, Leinster’s slipping discipline helping. Out-half Josh Ioane missed touch with one penalty but moments later, he broke through in midfield off a clever Seán O’Brien sweep pass, with O’Brien following up with a meaty carry that led to another Leinster penalty concession.
Into the 22 marched Connacht, with number eight Paul Boyle threatening off the maul before Bundee Aki made a huge carry that sucked in Leinster defenders. A phase later, Buckley popped for the powerful O’Brien to finish under Will Connors and Culhane.
Back in the game trailing 14-5, Connacht just needed to get to the break but they conceded again before half time. Snyman knocked-on as he attempted an offload but that scrum became a Leinster penalty as referee Eoghan Cross pinged Buckley.
Leinster went to touch down the right and were ruthless again. Garry Ringrose carried off a deft Osborne tip-on pass, loosehead prop Jack Boyle showed his power, Ryan thundered around the corner, then Keenan went close off a Byrne pass.
The ball bobbled backwards out of Gibson-Park’s hands at that breakdown but Snyman came galloping around the corner to scoop it up and pirouette over the line.
Byrne’s low conversion made it 21-5 to Leinster at the interval and they looked determined to finish the job swiftly in the second half, a powerful defensive set nearly resulting in Gibson-Park racing clear.
They had their bonus point in the 46th minute as another brutal passage of attack in the Connacht 22 - featuring another class Snyman offload - ended with flanker Max Deegan stooping to pick up a Byrne pass off the ground and then surge through Piers O’Conor’s tackle attempt.
Leinster broke from their own 22 upon the restart, Snyman’s offload freeing hooker Gus McCarthy, who exchanged passes with Gibson-Park and probably should have then hit Ryan to finish but carried instead. Connacht scrambled and Aki smashed Leinster wing Andrew Osborne into touch in the left corner.
Connacht were soon smashing at the Leinster defence down the other end, replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin and then Paul Boyle threatening but the visitors scrambled both times. When Leinster then lost their five-metre lineout to a Niall Murray steal, they had to front up again, with replacement props Andrew Porter and Thomas Clarkson doing well to hold Boyle up over their tryline.
They finally cracked Leinster when replacement centre Cathal Forde, only on the pitch three minutes, scythed through the tackle attempt of Jamie Osborne and Snyman to score under the posts.
Ioane converted and just as Connacht thought they might be back in it with 15 minutes left, Leinster scored straight off the restart. Byrne hung up a lovely drop kick and as Connacht hesitated, Andrew Osborne lept to claim it and race away for his side’s fifth try. Byrne converted smartly for 33-12.
Connacht had a late chance to grab their third score after a sweeping attack down the right but lock Darragh Murray knocked on as Leinster once again clung on with their scramble defence.
Connacht scorers:
Tries: Sean O’Brien, Cathal Forde
Conversions: Josh Ioane [1 from 2]
Penalties:
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Jamie Osborne, Liam Turner, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Andrew Osborne
Conversions: Ciarán Frawley [1 from 1], Ross Byrne [3 from 4]
CONNACHT: Piers O’Conor; Shayne Bolton, David Hawkshaw (Cathal Forde ’61), Bundee Aki, Santiago Cordero; Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy (Caolin Blade ’56); Denis Buckley (Peter Dooley ’52), Dave Heffernan (Dylan Tierney-Martin ’56), Finlay Bealham (Jack Aungier ’52); Joe Joyce (Niall Murray ’52), Darragh Murray; Cian Prendergast (captain), Sean O’Brien (Sean Jansen ’56), Paul Boyle.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Liam Turner (Hugh Cooney ’72), Garry Ringrose, Jamie Osborne, Andrew Osborne; Ciarán Frawley (Ross Byrne ’17), Jamison Gibson-Park (Fintan Gunne ’71); Jack Boyle (Andrew Porter ‘HT), Gus McCarthy (Stephen Smyth ’71), Rabah Slimani (Thomas Clarkson ‘HT); RG Snyman ((Brian Deeny ’65), James Ryan (captain); Max Deegan, Will Connors (Scott Penny ’59), James Culhane.
Referee: Eoghan Cross [IRFU].
