Leinster have a happy return to Laya Arena as Prendergast shines

The 42 Reports from Laya Arena

Leinster 29

Cardiff 5

LEINSTER ARE HOME at long last, and it was clear that players and supporters alike are happy about it.

On a crisp autumn night in Dublin, the refurbished Laya Arena welcomed a sold-out crowd of 20,035. It was an impressive sight. With the rebuilt Anglesea Stand towering over the pitch, and punters taking advantage of the new fan zone and revamped bars dotted around the venue, Leo Cullen’s side celebrated with a bonus-point win.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic for Leinster, who welcomed back a big group of frontline Ireland internationals. The visiting Cardiff are a solid side and made life tricky for Leinster, who had some frustrations in a clunky middle third of the game.

But a five-try haul was a fine return for Leinster, with four of them scored in the first half as busy left wing Jimmy O’Brien grabbed a brace, while the lively Hugo Keenan and hard-carrying Jack Conan also dotted down.

Ireland out-half Sam Prendergast was superb in attack as he made three linebreaks with his pacy running game, while Leinster’s intent to move the ball at high speed in transition was clear for all to see.

Though it slowed up thereafter, Leinster managed to finish strongly as Jamie Osborne crossed for their fifth try late on to seal the province’s first win of the season.

This wasn’t a complete Leinster performance, but that was to be expected with a completely changed team. Still, they showed more than enough class and some excellent scramble defence on a pleasing first outing back at Laya Arena.

Leinster fed the feeling of excitement around Ballsbridge with their snappy start to the game, as Prendergast, Joe McCarthy, and Conan earned a muscular choke tackle when Cardiff tried to play out of their 22 in the opening passage.

There were a few close calls, including a sweeping passage of attack down the left from Prendergast, O’Brien, and scrum-half Oliver Coffey, before Leinster got on the scoreboard in the ninth minute through fullback Keenan.

A Tadhg Furlong pass initially went to ground, but Prendergast scooped up the ball, then offloaded for skipper Dan Sheehan to show quick hands to shift it to Keenan. He cleverly grubber-kicked beyond opposite number Matty Young and won the race to dot down in the left corner.

A scrum penalty soon helped Leinster to pile more pressure on, and Cardiff scrum-half Aled Davies was yellow carded for hands in the ruck close to his own try line. Leinster opted for another scrum and clinically took their chance as Coffey and Keenan freed O’Brien in the left-hand shortside.

Two minutes later, Leinster had their third try, and it was the pick of the bunch. Cardiff turned the ball over on the home side’s 10-metre line, where McCarthy popped the ball up for Furlong to swiftly swing it left to Prendergast.

The Leinster out-half spotted Cardiff tighthead prop Javan Sebastien out wide and skinned him before releasing O’Brien close to the touchline. O’Brien returned a pass inside, and though Prendergast was hauled down just short, number eight Conan punched over on the next phase.

Leinster had a lull as the second quarter rolled around, a Max Deegan tackle in the air giving Cardiff access to their 22 before out-half Callum Sheedy caught them napping with a quickly taken penalty, cross-field kicking for wing Mason Grady to score just before Davies returned from the sin bin.

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A couple of Leinster handling errors followed, yet they finished the half in style by claiming the bonus-point try with a well-executed play. From a midfield scrum, centre Osborne pulled the ball back for Prendergast to break through the Cardiff defence, draw in fullback Young and send O’Brien into the left corner.

Having been frustrated to miss with his previous three conversion attempts, Prendergast nailed his shot at goal from close to the touchline. 

Leinster led 22-5 at the break, and they had to scramble early in the second half as Basham intercepted a Coffey pass from a lineout in the Cardiff half. Keenan and Sheehan showed speed and work rate to hunt him down.  

Cullen’s men needed another try-saver only minutes later, this time from Coffey on Cardiff replacement scrum-half Johan Mulder after a slick flurry of attack down Leinster’s left-hand side.

A pair of lineout botches essentially prevented Leinster from getting an attacking foothold in the third quarter, while right wing Joshua Kenny was stripped of the ball when they finally got down towards the Cardiff 22.

Leinster continued to toil for the fifth score as the game trudged into the final quarter, the home supporters eager for something else to roar about.

Replacement centre Robbie Henshaw made a break with about 10 minutes left but his long pass wide to the left didn’t go to hand, another chance gone amiss. 

But they found their scoring touch again in the closing stages, striking after a big linebreak from outside centre Garry Ringrose. The forwards battered away off the back of that, then Prendergast played a sumptuous delayed pass in behind a tackle for Osborne to finish strongly.

So it was a welcome first win of the season for Leinster, as well as a tidy warm-up for next weekend’s Champions Cup visit to Clermont.

Leinster scorers:

Tries: Hugo Keenan, Jimmy O’Brien [2], Jack Conan, Jamie Osborne

Conversions: Sam Prendergast [2 from 5] 

Cardiff scorers:

Tries: Mason Grady

LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan (Robbie Henshaw ’66); Joshua Kenny, Garry Ringrose, Jamie Osborne (Caspar Gabriel ’76), Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast, Oliver Coffey (Fintan Gunne ’56); Alex Usanov (Peter Dooley ’63), Dan Sheehan (captain) (Rónan Kelleher ’73), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson ’56); Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Max Deegan (Alan Spicer ’63), Scott Penny, Jack Conan (Josh Ericson ’66).

CARDIFF: Matty Young; Jacob Beetham (Steffan Emanuel ’66), Harri Millard, Le Roux Malan, Mason Grady; Callum Sheedy (Jarrod Evans ’52), Aled Davies (yellow card ’15) (Johan Mulder ’52); Danny Southworth (Rhys Barratt ’63), Liam Belcher (captain) (Semisi Paea ’67), Javan Sebastian (HIA – Sam Wainwright ’25 to ’37, permanent ’63); Josh Mcally, Teddy Williams; Alex Mann (Rory Thornton ’76), Dan Thomas (Evan Lloyd ’63), Taine Basham.

Referee: Sam Grove-White [SRU].

Written by Murray Kinsella and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.