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Jordie Barrett and RG Snyman. Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

Leinster look to Round of 16 clash in Croke Park after topping pool

Leo Cullen was delighted with his side’s win over Bath.

LEINSTER CAN’T QUITE celebrate earning top seeds status for the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup tonight but they must have a strong sense that they’ve done enough.

Presuming that Bordeaux or Toulouse sew up top spot in Pool 1 with a win tomorrow, only a Toulon bonus-point win by more than 36 points in their final Pool 4 clash away to Sale Sharks tomorrow could deny Leinster.

Being one of the two top seeds would be highly advantageous as it would mean Leinster having a home Round of 16, quarter-final, and semi-final if they go that deep into the competition.

Whatever happens next, Leinster will definitely be at home for the Round of 16 and quarter-final.

It’s understood that the province are planning to bring their Round of 16 clash on the weekend of 4/5/6 April to Croke Park in their next visit to GAA headquarters. 

They will hope for another big crowd to boost their coffers, having earned a huge payday of around €1.7 million by selling out Croker for their URC clash with Munster in October. Leinster also played last season’s Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton in Croke Park.

While waiting on other results tomorrow, Leinster can certainly toast four wins from four to top Pool 2 following tonight’s 47-21 victory against Bath. 

Leo Cullen’s men didn’t have it all their own way as Bath led 21-19 after an exciting first half but the visitors suffered from playing 30 minutes of the match with only 14 players as Leinster took full advantage of Beno Obano’s second-half yellow card to finish with seven tries. It means a job well done after earlier wins against Bristol, Clermont, and La Rochelle.

“They are four very tough games,” said Cullen.

“Bristol, go back to round one, the cohesion that they have versus our guys that had been involved in four Tests [with Ireland] that was always going to be interesting, how guys pitched up that week.

“And credit to the lads the way they have gone about their work. Short turnaround into Clermont, very sticky team. They’re just a bloody tough nut to crack – all those Christophe Urios teams have been over the years. And the conditions were tricky that day as well.

joe-mccarthy-celebrates-after-the-game Leinster lock Joe McCarthy. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

“Then you go away to La Rochelle, and ROG has I’d say, what, a strong dislike for Leinster to put it mildly. So, their team was going to be very focused on that game and you’ll have to deal with a few sort of other bits as well.

“Guys came through that well and again, another six-day turnaround into Bath, who are riding high at the top of the Premiership, playing with a lot of confidence, and they have got some x-factor players that can cause you trouble.

“So, listen, to get four wins is great. We will see where we sit at the end of it. We have tried to do our bit anyway, which is to battle away for every single point that is available, we maybe didn’t get them all, but anyway, we have gone pretty close, which is good.”

And yet, by their own admission, Leinster have yet to deliver a totally satisfying performance in this competition.

They have learned lots along the way and the way Bath’s attack stretched Jacques Nienaber’s defence this evening will have given them food for thought.

“I think they attacked us in that short kicking space of the drop-off and they got unstructured attack against us,” said centre Robbie Henshaw of the English side’s fast start to the game.

“They played quite wide to wide, Finn Russell hit a cross-kick to width and then they scored on the far side, so they did have a good plan to attack to width and probably had quick ball on the back of that which kind of stopped our linespeed.

“Yeah, they had a good plan and came out of the blocks pretty early.”

But overall, Leinster were delighted to come through this challenge with a bonus-point victory in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 people.

“We were worried all week, worried since the fixture was announced,” said Cullen.

“Six-day turnarounds are always a challenge. We know Bath are going incredibly well in the Premiership, we know Johann knows the group, Ross Molony knows our group incredibly well.

jack-conan-after-the-game-with-ross-molony Jack Conan and Ross Molony. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

“But ultimately Bath have a lot of quality, they have plenty of internationals throughout their squad and they are a team with a lot of confidence. So it is easy to say ‘nobody will give us a chance’ and all that type of narrative and they are fired at us physically right from the start.

“We are 7-0 down and pretty quickly after that we conceded another try, so thankfully we showed good composure, Robbie scores two tries which gets us back in the game. Bath were very physical; they were coming off the line and hitting people hard, sometimes without the ball which gave us penalties and field position.

“It focuses the half-time conversation which is a good thing because people are focusing on solutions. What is the way to go? And how do you go about the second-half.

“I think we got a better balance in the second-half. RG Snyman and Caelan Doris came in and gave us plenty of energy. It is a 23-man effort.

“I know there is a red card. It was very unusual the way that played out. It was a yellow card offence but it meant they had to play out the game with 14.

“Overall we are delighted, there was a great big crowd there which, at this time of the season, was amazing.”

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    Mute Chicken George
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    Apr 7th 2019, 10:29 PM

    He didn’t just miss it. He stopped it going in

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    Mute Thomas Ryan
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    Apr 7th 2019, 10:35 PM

    Never seen anything like that before,astonishing

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    Mute Johnny B
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    Apr 7th 2019, 10:58 PM

    Match fixing. Period.

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    Mute Aidan Butler
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    Apr 7th 2019, 11:28 PM

    @Johnny B: he scored the first goal

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    Mute davemck
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    Apr 7th 2019, 10:55 PM

    Is that not obvious corruption? Whatever the reason for it. Betting. The league or club wanting to hold on. I hope they get fined billions and docked 70 points.

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    Mute Aidan Butler
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    Apr 7th 2019, 11:29 PM

    @davemck: he scored before that

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    Mute davemck
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    Apr 7th 2019, 11:55 PM

    @Aidan Butler: exactly

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    Mute John
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    Apr 7th 2019, 11:02 PM

    Some rise. Gone from bench at a relegated team to starting for one of the best teams in the world in a season

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    Mute Flaming Mo
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    Apr 7th 2019, 11:13 PM

    @John: They’re hardly one of the best teams in the world when a side sitting in 6th in the Premier League can knock em out of Europe! A bunch of show ponys Bill!

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    Mute mark
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    Apr 7th 2019, 11:16 PM

    @Flaming Mo: I still prefer Ronnie Rosenthal’s miss

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    Mute El_Monikerinho
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    Apr 8th 2019, 3:27 PM

    @mark: has to be the slippery slip for me! Encore !

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    Mute Dead Ball Browne
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    Apr 7th 2019, 10:58 PM

    Langer…!

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    Mute Bungee Aky
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    Apr 8th 2019, 8:08 AM

    Even John Delaney would have finished that

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    Mute El_Monikerinho
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    Apr 8th 2019, 3:26 PM

    The Man City of France. Usually out of Europe with tail between their legs. Expensive Klops sorry Flops!

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