A CLASH THAT pitted first against second under Friday Night Lights at the RDS delivered on the high billing as Leinster and the DHL Stormers played out a thrilling draw in Dublin.
Leo Cullen’s side trailed by 12 points at half-time but a strong second-half performance saw them pull the deficit back and come within inches of recording a 16th-straight URC win of the season.
While Leinster will be disappointed to see their winning run end, the draw was enough for the province to secure top spot in the URC table with two rounds of regular season fixtures still to play.
The Stormers traveled to Dublin determined to inflict a first defeat of the season on URC leaders Leinster and the South Africans certainly gave the home side a scare as they played with pace and precision across a highly entertaining first half.
With a heavy wind behind their backs, the defending URC champions made a blistering start and kept Leinster pinned into their own half for much of the opening quarter.
Leinster’s Michael Milne tackled by Joseph Dweba of the DHL Stormers. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
While the visitors initially struggled to convert territory into points – Manie Libbok’s early penalty the only score of the opening 20 minutes – they eventually began to make their dominance count.
Libbok was heavily involved throughout and cut a frustrated figure after the wind got the better off him on two occasions – pulling an early drop-goal attempt wide and carrying a kick from his own 22 all the way out on the full.
Yet the Stormers out-half looked dangerous every time he touched the ball and he eventually supplied the visitors’ opening score with a brilliant bit of individual skill, cutting inside Liam Turner and Scott Penny after a sharp dummy to score under the posts, before converting his own score.
As the Stormers began to put some distance between the two teams on the scoreboard, Leinster’s early visits to the 22 were bringing no joy.
Jordan Larmour was penalised for playing the ball on the ground, before another promising attack ended with Harry Byrne overcooking a kick in behind.
Leinster continued to search for a breakthrough but the Stormers linespeed was putting them under intense pressure and forcing mistakes.
When Luke McGrath flung a pass behind Ciarán Frawley, Libbok was first to react, breaking forward at pace with Larmour hot on his heels. The out-half carried deep before feeding Suleiman Hartzenberg, who had the time and space to dot down behind the posts – with Libbok again adding the extras.
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The home crowd were becoming increasingly frustrated with referee Sam Grove-White as Leinster’s attack struggled to click into gear and their error count rose.
However Leo Cullen’s side finally registered their first score of the game with the last action of the first half – Max Deegan’s quick hands allowing Michael Milne to cross after a period of sustained Leinster pressure.
Byrne was off target with the conversion as the Stormers took a 17-5 lead into the break.
Following the restart, it took Leinster just three minutes to cut a further chunk off the Stormers’ lead.
After an excellent Byrne kick to the corner, Ross Molony claimed the lineout and Scott Penny muscled over from the back of the maul. Byrne couldn’t add the extras but Leinster now had all the momentum.
DHL Stormers' Seabelo Senatla offloads the ball despite Liam Turner and Rob Russell of Leinster. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
An ideal start to the second half – but Cullen’s side almost immediately shot themselves in the foot.
As Leinster looked to strike again from another attacking lineout, Steven Kitshoff stole the ball at the front and Hacjivah Dayimani broke down the right wing. The Stormers number eight looked sure to make the line but Liam Turner showed great pace to track him down and force the offload, Ciarán Frawley nailed the second tackle, Leinster won the turnover and somehow, the Stormers walked away empty-handed.
Leinster had their tails up now and after the Stormers failed to collect another Byrne kick into the backfield, the province poured forward and Rob Russell got over in the corner for try number three. Byrne couldn’t add the extras but the South Africans’ lead had been cut to just two points.
Five minutes later, it was the visitors who were now chasing the game. After repeated infringements Hartzenberg was yellow-carded for going in at the side. Leinster opted for the tap-and-go penalty, with Max Deegan powering over for the bonus point score.
Byrne added the extra two and with an hour played, Leinster led by five.
The Stormers were seeing less and less of the ball as tempers began to flare – at one point spilling over the touchline – but always looked dangerous on the counter.
Tempers flair between DHL Stormers' Deon Fourie and John McKee of Leinster. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
And another smart piece of play from Libbok saw them pull level with 10 minutes to play, the out-half making use of penalty advantage to slip a kick in behind for fullback Clayton Blommetjies, the try going unconverted as Libbok failed to judge the breeze correctly.
It hadn’t been a night for the place-kickers and Byrne had a late chance to steal the win for Leinster, but his 77th-minute penalty bounced back off the post.
Leinster scorers –
Tries: Milne, Penny, Russell, Deegan
Conversions: Byrne [1/4]
Penalty: Byrne [0/1]
Stormers scorers –
Tries: Libbok, Hartzenberg, Blommetjies
Conversions: Libbok [2/3]
Penalty: Libbok [1/1]
LEINSTER: Jordan Larmour; Rob Russell, Liam Turner, Ciarán Frawley, Dave Kearney; Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath (Nick McCarthy, 69); Michael Milne (Ed Byrne, 62), John McKee (Lee Barron, 62), Michael Ala’alatoa (Vakhtang Abdaladze, 62); Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins (Brian Deeny, 69); Rhys Ruddock (captain) (Will Connors, 62), Scott Penny, Max Deegan.
DHL STORMERS: Clayton Blommetjies (Jean-Luc du Plessis, 72); Suleiman Hartzenberg, Dan du Plessis, Damian Willemse, Seabelo Senatla; Manie Libbok, Paul de Wet (Herschel Jantjies, 57); Steven Kitshoff (captain) (Brok Harris, 62), Joseph Dweba (JJ Kotze, 62), Frans Malherbe (Neethling Fouche, 57); Ruben van Heerden, Marvin Orie (Ernst van Rhyn, 72); Deon Fourie (Marcel Theunissen, 64), Ben-Jason Dixon (Willie Engelbrecht, 61), Hacjivah Dayimani.
Yellow card: Suleiman Hartzenberg 59
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
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Leinster secure top spot in URC table after thrilling draw with Stormers
Leinster 22
Stormers 22
A CLASH THAT pitted first against second under Friday Night Lights at the RDS delivered on the high billing as Leinster and the DHL Stormers played out a thrilling draw in Dublin.
Leo Cullen’s side trailed by 12 points at half-time but a strong second-half performance saw them pull the deficit back and come within inches of recording a 16th-straight URC win of the season.
While Leinster will be disappointed to see their winning run end, the draw was enough for the province to secure top spot in the URC table with two rounds of regular season fixtures still to play.
The Stormers traveled to Dublin determined to inflict a first defeat of the season on URC leaders Leinster and the South Africans certainly gave the home side a scare as they played with pace and precision across a highly entertaining first half.
With a heavy wind behind their backs, the defending URC champions made a blistering start and kept Leinster pinned into their own half for much of the opening quarter.
While the visitors initially struggled to convert territory into points – Manie Libbok’s early penalty the only score of the opening 20 minutes – they eventually began to make their dominance count.
Libbok was heavily involved throughout and cut a frustrated figure after the wind got the better off him on two occasions – pulling an early drop-goal attempt wide and carrying a kick from his own 22 all the way out on the full.
Yet the Stormers out-half looked dangerous every time he touched the ball and he eventually supplied the visitors’ opening score with a brilliant bit of individual skill, cutting inside Liam Turner and Scott Penny after a sharp dummy to score under the posts, before converting his own score.
As the Stormers began to put some distance between the two teams on the scoreboard, Leinster’s early visits to the 22 were bringing no joy.
Jordan Larmour was penalised for playing the ball on the ground, before another promising attack ended with Harry Byrne overcooking a kick in behind.
Leinster continued to search for a breakthrough but the Stormers linespeed was putting them under intense pressure and forcing mistakes.
When Luke McGrath flung a pass behind Ciarán Frawley, Libbok was first to react, breaking forward at pace with Larmour hot on his heels. The out-half carried deep before feeding Suleiman Hartzenberg, who had the time and space to dot down behind the posts – with Libbok again adding the extras.
The home crowd were becoming increasingly frustrated with referee Sam Grove-White as Leinster’s attack struggled to click into gear and their error count rose.
However Leo Cullen’s side finally registered their first score of the game with the last action of the first half – Max Deegan’s quick hands allowing Michael Milne to cross after a period of sustained Leinster pressure.
Byrne was off target with the conversion as the Stormers took a 17-5 lead into the break.
Following the restart, it took Leinster just three minutes to cut a further chunk off the Stormers’ lead.
After an excellent Byrne kick to the corner, Ross Molony claimed the lineout and Scott Penny muscled over from the back of the maul. Byrne couldn’t add the extras but Leinster now had all the momentum.
An ideal start to the second half – but Cullen’s side almost immediately shot themselves in the foot.
As Leinster looked to strike again from another attacking lineout, Steven Kitshoff stole the ball at the front and Hacjivah Dayimani broke down the right wing. The Stormers number eight looked sure to make the line but Liam Turner showed great pace to track him down and force the offload, Ciarán Frawley nailed the second tackle, Leinster won the turnover and somehow, the Stormers walked away empty-handed.
Leinster had their tails up now and after the Stormers failed to collect another Byrne kick into the backfield, the province poured forward and Rob Russell got over in the corner for try number three. Byrne couldn’t add the extras but the South Africans’ lead had been cut to just two points.
Five minutes later, it was the visitors who were now chasing the game. After repeated infringements Hartzenberg was yellow-carded for going in at the side. Leinster opted for the tap-and-go penalty, with Max Deegan powering over for the bonus point score.
Byrne added the extra two and with an hour played, Leinster led by five.
The Stormers were seeing less and less of the ball as tempers began to flare – at one point spilling over the touchline – but always looked dangerous on the counter.
And another smart piece of play from Libbok saw them pull level with 10 minutes to play, the out-half making use of penalty advantage to slip a kick in behind for fullback Clayton Blommetjies, the try going unconverted as Libbok failed to judge the breeze correctly.
It hadn’t been a night for the place-kickers and Byrne had a late chance to steal the win for Leinster, but his 77th-minute penalty bounced back off the post.
Leinster scorers –
Tries: Milne, Penny, Russell, Deegan
Conversions: Byrne [1/4]
Penalty: Byrne [0/1]
Stormers scorers –
Tries: Libbok, Hartzenberg, Blommetjies
Conversions: Libbok [2/3]
Penalty: Libbok [1/1]
LEINSTER: Jordan Larmour; Rob Russell, Liam Turner, Ciarán Frawley, Dave Kearney; Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath (Nick McCarthy, 69); Michael Milne (Ed Byrne, 62), John McKee (Lee Barron, 62), Michael Ala’alatoa (Vakhtang Abdaladze, 62); Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins (Brian Deeny, 69); Rhys Ruddock (captain) (Will Connors, 62), Scott Penny, Max Deegan.
DHL STORMERS: Clayton Blommetjies (Jean-Luc du Plessis, 72); Suleiman Hartzenberg, Dan du Plessis, Damian Willemse, Seabelo Senatla; Manie Libbok, Paul de Wet (Herschel Jantjies, 57); Steven Kitshoff (captain) (Brok Harris, 62), Joseph Dweba (JJ Kotze, 62), Frans Malherbe (Neethling Fouche, 57); Ruben van Heerden, Marvin Orie (Ernst van Rhyn, 72); Deon Fourie (Marcel Theunissen, 64), Ben-Jason Dixon (Willie Engelbrecht, 61), Hacjivah Dayimani.
Yellow card: Suleiman Hartzenberg 59
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
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Leinster one versus two Stormers United Rugby Championship URC