Leinster 64
Southern Kings 7
Sean Farrell reports from the RDS
50 MINUTES BEFORE kick-off, Leinster were still without an opponent to compete for as much as a coin toss with.
50 minutes after kick-off, they were 40 points clear and able to ponder which players needed minutes and who needed to be taken out of the firing line.
Garry Ringrose clocked up 55 minutes, looking sprightly and sharp on his return from ankle injury. And his departure presented Jordan Larmour an opportunity to show his wares in the centre.
Ciaran Frawley enjoyed a solid full debut, capping off a night of pure striking and a well-taken try with an absolutely sublime cross-field assist for James Lowe to dot down. That was the try of the night from the hosts, the eighth of 10 against the tired-looking tourists.
This was never a match-up to set the pulses racing. The competition new boys arrived in the RDS late and without a win in their 15 matches this season. So Leinster had every right to forego early penalties and go straight for the jugular.
With Ringrose on the field for the first time since the January inter-pros and Lowe capable of ripping open far better defences, there was ample scope for Leinster’s marquee names to pad out a few stats columns against lesser opposition.
Instead it was the twin threat of Bryan and Ed Byrne who lit up the RDS.
Ed — the loosehead — is clearly returning to his full powers after enduring injury hell in recent years and demonstrated excellent power in contract to deliver fast gainlines for his side in attack.
Bryan meanwhile – the hooker – smashed his way over the try-line twice, but it was his assists that really caught the eye. First, on the back of his twin’s burst, he popped up in the wide right channel, straightened up the line to good effect and popped the ball wide for Barry Daly to finish.
Bryan Byrne’s second assist was a beautiful reverse pass to meet a scything Dave Kearney angle. The international cruised under the posts and the bonus point was in the bag after just 22 minutes.
On his full senior debut, Skerries man Frawley didn’t put a foot wrong, striking the ball with marvellous conviction from the tee and hand, and claiming his first professional try on 34 minutes with a tidy dummy and step five metres out.
Leo Cullen will have work-ons for the week ahead, most notably the maul defence that conceded a string of penalties before Michael Willemse touched down for the Kings in the 15th minute. By then, however, Leinster had racked up 14. 40 came by half-time and soon after that, Nick McCarthy was diving over for his second try on a night where the scrum-half often preferred to snipe instead of pass out of contact.
Ringrose’s last act of a decent evening’s work was to be hit late by tighthead Pieter Scholtz. With the prop in the bin, Frawley used the extra space to devastating effect, drilling a cross-field kick from right to left, into the waiting breadbasket of Lowe.
Once Adam Coyle had made his debut off the bench and Daly grounded a second, all that was left was for Larmour got his hands on the try he was very clearly chasing from the second he got on.
10 tries up, five more points to add to Leinster’s leading total in Pro14 Conference B.
Next weekend, away to Scarlets, will be a very different kind of contest.
Scorers
Leinster
Tries: B Byrne (2), N McCarthy (2), B Daly (2), D Kearney, C Frawley, J Lowe, J Larmour
Conversions: C Frawley (7/10)
Southern Kings
Tries: M Willemse
Conversions: M Du Toit (1/1)
Leinster: Dave Kearney, Barry Daly, Garry Ringrose (Jordan Larmour ’55), Isa Nacewa (Noel Reid ’45), James Lowe, Ciarán Frawley, Nick McCarthy (Jamison Gibson-Park ’66): Ed Byrne (Peter Dooley ’51), Bryan Byrne (James Tracy ’51), Michael Bent (Adam Coyle ’51, Mick Kearney, Ian Nagle, Josh Murphy, Will Connors (Ross Molony ’58), Max Deegan (Peadar Timmins ’45).
Southern Kings: Yaw Penxe (Jacques Nel ’70), Michael Makase, Berton Klaasen, Luzuko Vulindlu, Anthonie Volmink, Martin Du Toit ( Barend Janse van Rensburg ’64), Rowan Gouws (JP Smith ’51): Schalk Ferreira, Michael Willemse (Stephan Coetzee ’70) , Pieter Scholtz, Stephan Greeff, Arthur De Wee, Eital Bredenkamp; Martinus Burger, Andisa Ntsila.
