Leinster hold off spirited Connacht rally to edge Aviva interpro

Ciarán Kennedy Reports from Aviva Stadium

Leinster 20

Connacht 12

LEINSTER WILL CARRY their unbeaten run to Thomond Park next week but the province were made to work hard for this eight-point interpro win over Connacht.

Leo Cullen’s men laid the platform with a dominant first half that saw them register a 14-0 lead through tries from Andrew Osborne and Charlie Tector, but a spirited Connacht side rallied hard after the break.

Entering the final quarter Connacht had cut Leinster’s lead to five points thanks to scores from Oisín Dowling and Shane Jennings and had the home side on the ropes, but they couldn’t find the killer touch as Leinster finished on top to clock their 10th straight win of the season.

The first half saw Leinster play most of the rugby in the Connacht half as the visitors put in a largely excellent defensive effort which was hampered by the concession of nine penalties.

Leinster’s defence wasn’t put under the same pressure but comfortably dealt with anything thrown at them, with Alex Soroka outstanding in the Leinster back row. Leo Cullen will surely have felt his team should have had more than 14 points to their name come the break, and the sight of three stolen lineouts will have been a sore point as the issues of last week’s win over Clermont crept into their game again.

Connacht had to absorb wave after wave of Leinster pressure in the opening stages as the hosts took advantage of the strong breeze. A scrum penalty win allowed Leinster kick to the corner and set up their attack in the Connacht 22, only for Bundee Aki to come up with a big penalty win against RG Snyman.

Another promising Leinster attack ended with an excellent defensive effort from Shane Jennings to win possession back.

Leinster finally carved their way through in the 20th minute, scoring from a clinical strike play off lineout. Luke McGrath sent the ball to Ross Byrne, who showed lovely hands to play in Osborne, with the winger’s clever show and go sending him through a gap to score. Byrne added the extras from the tee.

Connacht’s task was further complicated when Jennings was shown a yellow card for a body check on McGrath five minutes later.

Leinster took advantage of their extra man immediately. From the lineout Connacht’s maul defence initially held up well before Leinster swung the ball out to Jordie Barrett. The New Zealander slipped a pass inside to Charlie Tector and the centre went through far too easily. Byrne’s second conversion put his team 14 points to the good.

Connacht’s best moments were fleeting and ended in the same frustrating fashion. Shortly after the half hour mark they went through 14 phases in the Leinster half before Soroka managed to pinch the ball back from Dave Heffernan.

In the next passage of play Josh Ioane lost the ball in contact after a big hit from Barrett, who was excellent throughout. The tackle saw Ioane forced off as Connacht reshuffled their backline, moving Cathal Forde to outhalf as Santiago Cordero came off the bench.

A Max Deegan 50:22 gave Leinster a chance to build on their lead but Connacht got up to contest and steal it back.  

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From there Connacht worked their way back into the Leinster half, stringing together a series of passes without punching a hole as Mack Hansen added some smart touches, but again the play ended with Soroka winning a Leinster penalty.

Shortly after the restart Byrne extended Leinster’s lead by adding a penalty. 

Connacht then went in search of their opening points with a series of lineouts in the Leinster 22 – one of which ended with Josh Murphy and Snyman squaring up after a coming together in the maul. The passage ended with Connacht’s maul driving for the line but being held up short, with Leinster second row Diarmuid Mangan central to the effort. 

Connacht were hammering at the door and as Leinster’s penalty count rose hooker Lee Barron was yellow-carded just moments after entering the action.

Then Connacht forced their way through from a tap penalty. Seconds after being sent in as a replacement, Oisín Dowling touched the ball down after Jack Aungier was stopped short. Forde stood over the conversation but his kick was off target.

Leinster were struggling to get out of their half and Connacht put their foot down.

Piers O’Conor and the increasingly influential Hansen combined nicely to send Aki racing down the left wing before Barrett got back to make an important tackle. Connacht recycled the ball and with Leinster caught narrow, the visitors worked the ball quickly through the hands of Santi Cordero and Cian Prendergast before Jennings went over in the corner, the winger having enough time and space to cut back inside and touch down behind the posts to finish a wonderful team score.

This time Forde made no mistake with the extras, cutting the deficit to five points with 20 still to play.

Now it was Leinster who lifted it, and they were threatening a third try before Andrew Osborne was pinged for a neck roll. Another clever set play just didn’t come off – a short lineout to Snyman moving out the back to Barron and into the hands of Jamison Gibson-Park, but the scrum-half was just forced into touch.

Minutes later Barron was powering for the line after smart play by Gibson-Park and Jimmy O’Brien, but the replacement hooker was denied by a brilliant try-saving tackle by Prendergast.

With the game entering the final five minutes Leinster were reduced to 14 for the second time, O’Brien sent to the line after colliding with Hansen in the air.

Connacht kept coming. Aki’s delayed pass found Aungier and soon Hansen was breaking again. The ball moved to Jennings but the winger was flattened by Barrett. Connacht kept the ball and had numbers up but Forde threw a pass just behind Darragh Murray, and the second row knocked it forward it trying to adjust his body. That was the moment.

Leinster went down the other end through another excellent break by Barrett, and won a penalty which Byrne opted to kick. His strike put Leinster eight clear with only seconds left. That was the game as Connacht’s impressive second half rally came up short.  

Leinster scorers:

Tries – Osborne, Tector

Penalty – R Byrne [2/2]

Conversions – R Byrne [2/2]

Connacht scorers:

Tries – Dowling, Jennings

Conversion – Forde [1/2]

LEINSTER: Jimmy O’Brien; Aitzol Arenzana-King (Harry Byrne, 62), Charlie Tector, Jordie Barrett, Andrew Osborne; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath (Jamison Gibson-Park, 51); Jack Boyle (Michael Milne, 51), Gus McCarthy (Lee Barron, 51), Rabah Slimani (Cian Healy, 51); Diarmuid Mangan (Brian Deeny, 75), RG Snyman; Alex Soroka, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (capt) (Max Deegan, 22) (Ryan Baird, 33 HIA).

Yellow cards: Barron, 52; O’Brien, 76.

CONNACHT: Piers O’Conor; Mack Hansen, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Shane Jennings; Josh Ioane (Santiago Cordero, 31 HIA), Ben Murphy (Caolin Blade, 53); Denis Buckley (Jordan Duggan, 64), Dave Heffernan (Dylan Tierney-Martin, 58), Finlay Bealham (Jack Aungier, 53); Josh Murphy (Oisín Dowling, 53), Darragh Murray; Cian Prendergast (capt), Shamus Hurley-Langton (Conor Oliver., 64), Paul Boyle (Sean Jansen, 53). 

Yellow card: Jennings, 26. 

Referee: Chris Busby.

Attendance: 33,963.