Murray Kinsella reports from Stadium de Gerland, Lyon
LEINSTER WERE BEATEN 27-22 by Clermont in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup.
Read our match report here.
Dire opening quarter
The lineout stuttered catastrophically, Leinster’s ruck work was poor and their defensive structure asked Clermont to attack on the outside edges.
Clermont were 15-0 ahead as early as the 15th minute and at that point it looked like they might even be on the way to a record semi-final winning margin, with Leinster stunningly off the pace.
The calling at lineout time from Devin Toner seemed overly complicated, while the Leinster back row were outplayed by Clermont’s, the dynamic pair of Peceli Yato and Fritz Lee in particular.
The yellow card for captain Isa Nacewa only made life more difficult, as he pulled David Strettle back off the ball. Indeed, Clermont appeared fixated on targeting the 34-year-old wing in that nightmarish opening 20 minutes for Leinster and got good change from the tactic.
Leinster gave it a good shot, more than once, but making up a 15-point headstart against one of the best teams in Europe always seemed unlikely.
The big moment
Dan Leavy’s disallowed try would have put Leinster 17-15 ahead, with a conversion attempt to come, at a time when Clermont were genuinely rocking and the familiar old doubts were creeping into their minds.
Leinster had chipped away at their commanding lead through the reliable boot of Johnny Sexton and even the stadium announcer lost his mojo after the out-half’s fourth penalty ensured momentum was firmly in the away side’s favour.
It was a beautiful non-try, with Jack Conan’s inside pass freeing Fergus McFadden, who hit Sexton on a brilliant support line, before the Leinster 10 found Henshaw. The Ireland centre was hauled down but Leavy was on hand to pick and dive over.
Fascinatingly it appeared to be assistant referee Ian Davies who asked Nigel Owens to check for a possible holding offence, only a week after he himself had missed Cian Healy clinging onto John Muldoon on the edge of a ruck in Leinster’s win over Connacht, with the resulting break leading to three points.
Quite probably having learned from his oversight in that instance, Davies was on the ball this time and the subsequent TMO review showed that Leavy had indeed impeded Rougerie illegally.
There’s debate over whether or not the Clermont centre would have made the tackle but Leavy’s actions were against the laws of the game and justifiably penalised.
From the moment that should have turned the tide completely in Leinster’s favour, leaving them in front for the first time, Clermont slotted three points through the boot of the quite brilliant Morgan Parra.
When it comes to holding players into rucks, you win some and you lose some.
Leinster’s revival
Given the extent of the onslaught from Clermont early in the game, 15-3 was a fine half-time scoreline from Leinster’s point of view, providing them with belief that they were still firmly in the contest.
Clermont would have had the first doubts tipping into their minds then and those only grew after the break as Sexton’s place-kicking drew Leinster back to within touching distance.
Indeed, Leinster do deserve credit for rebounding from such a damaging start, with blindside flanker Rhys Ruddock leading the charge impressively in one of his finest games for the province.
Though the stinging disappointment of the first 15 minutes and the final scoreline will overshadow assessment of other passages in this game, Leinster did lots of good in their second-half revival.
Their attacking shape finally settled into the game and they sent Clermont backwards through long passages of phase-play, while the lineout steadied itself and the scrum was solid throughout.
Leinster contributed to an utterly thrilling Champions Cup game and showed that while they have important lessons to learn, they are not far off the top echelon of European rugby.
Ringrose’s wonder try
It was the kind of score that deserved to win a game but Garry Ringrose’s second-half peach will instead be remembered as one of the moments the young Ireland centre showed his class to a wider audience.
The 22-year-old narrowly missed out on making the Lions tour to New Zealand this summer, and Warren Gatland might have had a twinge of regret was he watched Ringrose score the kind of individual try that is a rarity at this level.
Ringrose’s rapid-fire footwork took him back inside the tackle attempts of Damien Penaud and Damien Chouly for the initial break, before the Leinster 13 sold Scot Spedding a deft dummy and accelerated beyond Nick Abendanon to score a stunning try.
Like all of this team-mates, Ringrose had moments of imperfection in his display but his attacking quality continues to grow with each passing month.
A tour of the USA and Japan this summer will only further the process, meaning Leinster and Ireland are right to be very excited.
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