United Rugby Championship: Leinster 20 Connacht 12
Two tries each and one of the most pleased people in Aviva Stadium was coach Leo Cullen when he saw the ball kicked off the pitch at the end of Leinster’s blazing United Rugby Championship game against Connacht on Saturday.
Cullen may not read a lot into it as he had made so many changes from the side that beat Clermont the previous weekend in the Champions Cup. But from 17-0 up at half-time the match became fraught as Connacht hit back after the break to set up a rousing finish, enough to warm up a crowd that was in danger of freezing to their seats in the opening set-piece dominated 15 minutes.
For Connacht, well, they see it as an opportunity missed after they came out in the second half and played as if a light had been switched on. With more assurance, cutting edge and confidence they nearly pulled off one of the wins of the season to derail Leinster’s so far unbeaten run in all competitions.
“That nagging frustration and ‘what if’ that we will carry out of this game and bring back along the motorway,” said Connacht coach Pete Wilkins.
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“For us it is important that we don’t let go of that, and that while we might have run out of minutes here this evening, that we pick up where we left off and unload some of that frustration on our next opponents. That said we also can’t spend half the week processing. We have to get over it pretty quickly because we train Monday and Tuesday, couple of days [off] for Christmas and then in for a captain’s run [ahead of Saturday night’s home game with Ulster].”
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Leinster’s first score came after 20 minutes, and just in time too before frustration set in as they squandered a couple of attacking lineouts and fell just short a few times when threatening the Connacht line.
Then from a Leinster lineout on the left the ball was whipped across three players with left wing Andrew Osborne on a supporting run. It caught the Connacht defence open and Osborne touched down by the post leaving Ross Byne a simple conversion and a 7-0 lead.
Soon after Luke McGrath was body-checked by Shane Jennings, enough to earn the Connacht winger a spell in the sinbin. That triggered the second try with a pop-up pass from Jordie Barrett serving Charlie Tector well as he pumped his legs through the Connacht defenders and set up Byrne for his second conversion. That had Leinster 14-0 ahead after 27 minutes and looking comfortable up to half-time.
Byrne added a penalty soon after the restart to push the lead out to17-0 as Leinster consciously exerted scoreboard pressure. But it was after that Connacht began to express and exert themselves, Mack Hansen lively and probing from all corners.
When Oisín Dowling scored the first Connacht try on 52 minutes, there was a clear momentum shift. Shortly after Jennings repaid for his earlier indiscretion by running in untouched on the right after Connacht had a two on one with Jamison Gibson-Park, which left the replacement scrumhalf guessing who to take.
That made it 17-12 with Connacht thriving and Leinster gamely battling to regain control.
Connacht captain Cian Prendergast cleverly held up the ball when Lee Barron muscled over on 71 minutes. That could have sealed it for Leinster. Still, a late penalty from Ross Byrne pushed it out to a two-score lead at 20-12 to settle the match.
“He nailed his kicks there, so important in the contest of the game,” said Cullen of Byrne’s display. “It’s two tries all wasn’t it. The decision to take the penalty put us 17 points in front. We just needed to dog out a win today. We were really pleased.
“And then at the end to take the bonus point away from Connacht, it’s important for us as well. It just keeps us ticking along on the league. That’s what it is all about, grinding out wins, especially this time of year with plenty of disruptions.”
SCORING SEQUENCE – 20 mins: A Osborne try, R Byrne con, 7-0; 27: C Tector try, R Byrne con, 14-0; Half-time 14-0. 43: R Byrne pen, 17-0; 52: O Dowling try, 17-5; 60: S Jennings try, C Forde con, 17-12; 80: R Byrne pen, 20-12.
LEINSTER: J O’Brien; A Arenzana-King, C Tector, J Barrett, A Osborne; R Byrne, L McGrath; J Boyle, G McCarthy, R Slimani; D Mangan, RG Snyman; A Soroka, S Penny, J Conan (capt).
Replacements: M Deegan for J Conan (22 mins); R Baird for Deegan (33); L Barron for McCarthy, M Milne for Boyle, C Healy for Slimani, J Gibson-Park for McGrath (all 51); H Byrne for Aranzana-King (62); H Byrne for King (62); B Deeny for Mangan (74).
Yellow cards: L Barron (52 mins), J O’Brien (75).
CONNACHT: P O’Conor; M Hansen, C Forde, B Aki, S Jennings; J Ioane, B Murphy; D Buckley, D Heffernan, F Bealham; J Murphy, D Murray; C Prendergast (capt), S Hurley-Langton, P Boyle.
Replacements: S Cordero for Ioane (32 mins); J Aungier for Bealham, O Dowling for J Murphy, C Blade for B Murphy, J Jansen for Boyle (all 52); D Tierney-Martin for Heffernan (57); C Oliver for Hurley-Langton, J Duggan for D Buckley (both 63).
Yellow card: Jennings (26 mins).
Referee: C Busby (IRFU).
Attendance: 33,963.
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