Glasgow Warriors 19
Leinster 32
MAGNIFICENT LEINSTER EXTENDED their winning run in the Guinness PRO14 to 22 games as a powerhouse first-half performance laid the groundwork for a bonus point win at the home of Glasgow Warriors.
The Irish province may have been missing players on international duty but they still had far too much power in the tight and at the breakdown, where skipper Rhys Ruddock ruled supreme. The Scots managed three tries but never threatened to steal the result.
Though it was the pack who were to make the difference, it was fullback Jimmy O’Brien who got the scoring under way when he popped up on the shoulder of Harry Byrne, the fly-half, to take the offload and skip in for a try under the posts that set the ball rolling.
Glasgow hit back through a score from George Horne but Leinster were dominating up front and went back into the lead when Byrne took advantage of poor home discipline to land a penalty and then Luke McGrath, the scum half, reacted first to a penalty five metres out to take a tap and dash in for the score.
When flanker Scott Penny broke from a maul to power over for the third score before the break, Leinster were well on their way to the points they needed and not even conceding a score soon after the break to D’Arcy Rae, the prop, was enough to derail them.
Glasgow were man down after the home side offended yet again defending a break from Rory O’Loughlin and from the penalty Leinster took full advantage as Michael Bent, the prop, picked up the bonus point try with a quarter of the match still to go.
As the replacements started to flood on, Glasgow came into the game more. And after a high tackle from Cian Kelleher earned him a spell in the sin bin, the Scots piled on the pressure to claim a third try, coming form a maul with Tom Gordon, the flanker, touching down.
And they finished with more pressure but the Leinster defence held firm to deny them another score and the chance of losing bonus points.
Glasgow Warriors: Tries: George Horne (16), D’Arcy Rae (41), Tom Gordon (72).
Conversions: Peter Horne [2 from 3]
Leinster: Tries: Jimmy O’Brien (10), Luke McGrath (27), Scott Penny (36), Michael Bent (53)
Conversions: Ross Byrne [3 from 4]
Penalties: Ross Byrne [21, 76]
Glasgow Warriors: Huw Jones (sin bin: 52-62); Tommy Seymour (Ratu Tagive, 71), Nick Grigg, Sam Johnson, Niko Matawalu; Pete Horne (Brandon Thomson, 67), George Horne (Jamie Dobie, 71); Aki Seiuli (Alex Allan, 54), Grant Stewart (George Turner, 54), D’Arcy Rae (Enrique Pieretto, 54), Rob Harley, Hamish Bain, Ryan Wilson (C) (Chris Fusaro, 63), Tom Gordon , TJ Ioane (Fotu Lokotui, 63).
Leinster: Jimmy O’Brien (David Hawkshaw, 71); Cian Kelleher (sin bin: 71-end), Rory O’Loughlin, Tommy O’Brien, Dave Kearney, Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath (Hugh O’Sullivan, 76); Peter Dooley (Michael Milne, 54), James Tracy (Dan Sheehan, 54), Michael Bent (Tom Clarkson, 60); Ross Molony (Scott Fardy, 60), Devin Toner, Josh Murphy, Scott Penny, Rhys Ruddock (C)(Dan Leavy, 60).
Referee: B Whitehouse (Wales)
Going by that top photo, looks like it was a pity there was nobody there to see it….
@Jumperoo: that stand was closed tonight and east stand had a big crowd in it. The people you can see under the clock are kids that played at half time.
@Eamon Maguire: Will ya stop, there was nobody there
That’s a shocking crowd (not blaming anyone) would it be better to have a game like that in an AIL ground and fill it with 3-4000 and the club does well. Surely there is no way this made money for the ground
@Scott Crossfield: does this not really expose our whole “stadia will be full” stance for RWC 2023? The media have played up the thinking that what sets Ireland apart from SA is that for also ran games – like, say, those involving Tonga v Namibia on a Tuesday night – provincial grounds like Thomond would be full. It would have helped our cause if 20.000 showed up for this game.
@Martin Quinn: of course it is different but in a week in which the CEO of the IRFU writes a detailed letter which partially focused on how our bid is different because we’ll sell out stadia for even the minnow games, a less than glamorous fixture in Limerick, one of rugby’s heartlands, attracts less than 10,000 people. Whether you agree or not isn’t really the point. I’ve absolutely no doubt there are people in WR who will be made aware of that. “Traditional rugby communities” is how Browne and the media have spun this. It doesn’t get more traditional than the Barbarians, against a recognised rugby nation. It looks bad.
@grandslamkbo: no it doesn’t, glory days are long gone for the baa-baa’s. they are a corporate group ,who gives a shit about them. It’s a mad panic even to fill a squad with them sometimes , it’s nice to be asked to play with them but I doubt there’s a player out there that aspires to be a baa-baa some day.
@grandslamkbo: the powers that be in their wisdom decided that a local AIL game between Young Munster and Garryowen would kick-off at the same time on the other side of the city.
That coupled with the very bad weather didn’t help. But agreed it is very poor optics in light of our arguments on stadia since S.A announced as preferred choice for 2023.
@Hardly Normal: i don’t care about the Barbarians either but that’s not the point. This was still a Friday night fixture in Limerick involving a world cup team and another with a long history. Arguing about the BaaBaas role is irrelevant. The stadium was about 20% full. It looks terrible.
@grandslamkbo: I think your argument is irrelevant, the barbarians are responsible for their own marketing. We just supplied a stadium. Weather played a massive aspect too! Someone else mentioned there was a local ail match at the same time! If it was important to have a full stadium they could have hyped it up, televised it and handed out free tickets if needs be.
@grandslamkbo: it takes brains to fix anAIL limerick derby the same night in the same city, also most junior rugby teams in the province have training on Friday nights
@Hardly Normal: that doesn’t make sense. The fact that it wasn’t televised means you’d expect more people to be at it. Do you think the attendance would have been bigger if it was live on tv?
Pretending the AIL fixture had any effect is nonsense. There were 250 at it tops. I know. I was there
@Martin Quinn: What are you on about? You want me to produce a photo to prove I was there? Fu<£ing clown. It's almost like you believe the attendance at the munster game was low because they were all watching AIL. Wake up.
Good man Donnacha. Proper order.
The unending tributes to Anthony Foley (deceased for well over a year now) are getting too much. He was a fine player, not a great coach.
@Paul K Murphy: Nope, because he’s dead over a year and it’s old. RIP but come on, please stop.
@John Reid:
K**b head
Was this on TV
@Charlie Brown: no but Pundit Arena had an online stream
@Charlie Brown: No thank God
Is it not 5 Irish debutants, or has Muldoon played for the Baa-baas before?