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AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: Leinster v Bath

Leinster laid down a marker with a convincing win over Bath in the Aviva Stadium. Get all of the details in our minute-by-minute report.

We were live in the Aviva Stadium for this evening’s Heineken Cup game between Leinster and Bath.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this evening’s game. E-mail niall@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.

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FULL TIME: Leinster 52-27 Bath

Evening all and welcome to our minute-by-minute coverage of Leinster v Bath in the Heineken Cup, live from Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Lansdowne Road.

I’m in situ so I’ll have the team news for you presently. Just as soon as Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you” stops blaring out over the PA…

The teams are out warming up on the pitch below me. Barring any late changes, this is how Leinster will line up.

Four changes from the team which won 18-13 over in the Rec last weekend — Eoin O’Malley, Eoin Reddan, Devin Toner and Shane Jennings all start this evening.

Leinster: Kearney; Nacewa, O’Malley, McFadden, Fitzgerald; Sexton, Reddan; Van der Merwe, Strauss, Ross; Cullen, Toner; O’Brien, Jennings, Heaslip.

And here’s how this evening’s visitors line out.

Bath: Vesty; Cuthbert, Banahan, Barkley, Abendanon; Donald, Claassens; Flatman, Biller, Wilson; Atwood, Caldwell; Louw, Mercer, Taylor.

There’s still 25 minutes to go until kick-off here in Dublin, but the ground is starting to fill nicely. We’re expecting a crowd of over 47,000 tonight which will set a new attendance record for a Heineken Cup pool game in Ireland. The old record was held by Leinster as well for what it’s worth.

Of course, there’s no Brian O’Driscoll for Leinster tonight. He’s still recovering from surgery on a shoulder injury, so he’s on unbiased punditry duty in the Sky Sports studio instead.

The shoulder’s healing well, according to the man himself, and he’ll know more once he goes back to see his specialist at the end of the month. That’s pretty positive.

In Drico’s absence, Joe Schmidt has chosen to go with the dynamic young pairing of Fergus McFadden and Eoin O’Malley in midfield. Judging by a couple of chats I’ve had during the week and on the way here tonight, there’s a lot of people backing this partnership to be the next D’Arcy-O’Driscoll double-act for Leinster.

Leinster may have ground out a narrow win over in the Rec last weekend but there have been quite a lot of questions asked during the week, particularly in relation to the team’s inability to convert in scoring situations. There were three or four excellent line-breaks last Sunday yet Leinster found themselves relying on six penalties from the boot of Jonny Sexton to get them over the line.

Leinster will be backing themselves to get a bonus point here tonight, but they’ll need to be at their clinical best if they’re to make it happen.

If you missed this afternoon’s other games, you’re probably better off. At least you missed Connacht’s heartbreaking loss against Gloucester in Kingsholm. Eric Elwood’s men were three points up coming into the last five minutes only for a late, late Jonny May try to deny them at the death. Ulster, on the other hand, were convincing as they strolled to a bonus-point win away to Aironi.

You can read our minute-by-minute reports of Gloucester 23-19 Connacht and Aironi 20-46 Ulster here.

Alrighty, we’re just about ready to go — and it’s loud in here tonight. Before any rugby, the blue Santa has popped in to get the crowd warmed up. Here’s hoping he brings some early Christmas presents in the form of tries. Or at least a pair of gloves for me; my hands are freezing.

Here come the teams. Leinster are 16-point favourites with the bookmakers tonight. Can they cover the spread?

We’re off and running.

Here’s the general mood over on Facebook as we get started.

MISSED PENALTY! McFadden breaks into acres of space and Bath concede the penalty out wide. Sexton steps up to strike, but it cannons back off the upright… and back into Leinster hands.

TRY! Leinster 7-0 Bath (Kearney, 4′) What an absolutely blistering start by Leinster. They hold on to possession and recycle brilliantly to within yards of the Bath line. Eoin Reddan digs into the ruck two yards out and, with a lovely sleight of hand, flicks the ball behind his back to Rob Kearney who dives over the top to touch down.

Sexton adds the extras and the Heineken Cup champions are up and running.

PENALTY! Leinster 7-3 Bath (Barkley, 8′) Leinster are penalised at the scrum — Mike Ross, I think — and Ollie Barkley kicks the penalty from straight in front of the posts.

DROP GOAL! Leinster 10-3 Bath (Sexton, 11′) Wow, that is quite brilliant by Jonny Sexton. Seeing that Sam Vesty was about to clear deep into Leinster territory, the out-half dropped back to collect. Nobody came to close Sexton down so he took three or four strides forward before thumping a dropper over the bar from way out. Great opportunism by the Leinster 10.

PENALTY! Leinster 10-6 Bath (Barkley, 15′) Leinster’s indiscipline is allowing Bath to keep chipping away at their lead without really threatening the try line. Captain Leo Cullen is the one pinged by referee Roman Poite here and Barkley tacks on three more for Bath.

That penalty count is Leinster 5-1 Bath at the moment.

Excellent defensive work by Jamie Heaslip to relieve a serious bit of defensive pressure. Richardt Strauss’ line-out is nicked by Wilson five yards out but Heaslip is quickest back to his feet at the ruck and gets over the top to strip the ball away.

YELLOW CARD! Leinster are down to 14 for the next 10 minutes. Captain Leo Cullen is binned for what referee Roman Poite describes as “foul play.” It looked like Cullen took a bit of a swipe at Biller on the deck, but it’s not exactly a punch from where I’m sitting.

TRY! Leinster 17-6 Bath (Fitzgerald, 25′) If Bath are planning on making a game of this, they’ll need to make better use of their numerical advantage. This one is all about Devin Toner who changes direction in midfield before selling a dummy which catches both Atwood and Caldwell off guard, allowing him to slip through the middle. He finds Kearney on his shoulder and with Luke Fitzgerald in acres of space on the overlap, it’s all too easy for Leinster who cruise in with nobody home for Bath. Sexton converts.

TRY! Leinster 24-6 Bath (Sexton, 33′) Magnificent work by Jonny Sexton who pulls the strings from start to finish as Leinster go over for their third try of the first half. He plays a loop with Heinke van der Merwe which allows him to release Fergus McFadden who in turn finds Luke Fitzgerald unopposed on the right wing. Fitzgerald kicks on the afterburners and as he looks inside for the support runner, he finds Sexton back on his shoulder and the out-half races free to touch down. The conversion isn’t quite as easy as Jonny would like it to be but he nails it nonetheless.

Two minutes until the break and Leinster are swarming to try and wrap up the bonus point before half-time…

MISSED PENALTY! Bath are penalised for not releasing in the tackle which gives Leinster a penalty inside their opponents’ 22. After a brief conference between Sexton and captain Leo Cullen, they decide to go for the posts but Sexton chops it just outside the right post.

And that’s the last action of the half here at the Aviva…

HALF TIME: Leinster 24-6 Bath

I’m off to source a pair of gloves or something. Back in five.

We’re back underway. Healy on to replace van der Merwe up front for Leinster.

TRY! Leinster 31-6 Bath (Fitzgerald, 41′) No time at all wasted as Leinster wrap up the bonus point inside the first minute of this second half. They work the ball across inside their own 22 before a skip pass sets Kearney thundering down the wing. He holds off the attention of Matt Banahan and flicks the ball back inside to Fitzgerald who sends Vesty flying with a sidestep and cruises home unchallenged. Sexton converts.

YELLOW CARD! It’s going from bad to worse for Bath. Roman Poite spots about three infractions at the breakdown and Sam Vesty bears the brunt of the punishment on his team-mates’ behalf.

Leinster go to the corner with the penalty…

TRY! Leinster 38-6 Bath (Reddan, 51′) Leinster bring wave after wave of pressure and Bath can only hold out for so long. Eoin O’Malley breaks to within a yard or two of the line and off the base of a ruck, Reddan sells Klaasens a dummy which buys the briefest of seconds and allows the scrum-half to nip over the line and finish. Sexton’s conversion is flawless.

YELLOW CARD! Bath are down to 13 for the next few minutes as hooker Chris Biller is sent to the bin. Oh dear…

With the game and bonus point both wrapped up, Joe Schmidt rings the changes. Cronin, D’Arcy and Ruddock come on to replace Strauss, McFadden and O’Brien.

TRY! Leinster 45-6 Bath (Ruddock, 58′) Leinster can’t stop scoring and some of the big front row are starting to get involved in the flicks and tricks. This time, it’s tighthead Mike Ross who takes two Bath defenders out of the game with a thundering run and inside pop to spark a break. Rhys Ruddock — who is only the pitch a minute or two — shrugs off the tackle to score. Sexton converts.

A few more changes for Leinster. McLaughlin and Madigan on for Cullen and Sexton. For Bath, Beattie, Batty, Cook and Williams all come on off the bench.

The Aviva Stadium crowd are back on their feet again as Luke Fitzgerald looks to have run in his hat-trick try but play is called back by Roman Poite for an earlier infringement.

TRY! Leinster 45-13 Bath (Donald, 64′) Bath strike back to add some respectability to the scoreline and it’s their fisherman-come-World Cup winner Stephen Donald who gets the try. Barkley converts.

The attendance this evening is confirmed at 46,365. Not bad for a cold Saturday night in December.

A couple more changes. For Leinster, White comes on for Ross. For Bath, Catt, Perenise, Heathcoate and Mercer are all introduced.

I think the real question here is: can Leinster rack up a half-century? They’ve got 10 minutes to find another try.

TRY! Leinster 45-20 Bath (Attwood, 75′) Leinster switch off again for a second and Bath are back in again. Olly Barkley sells Isaac Boss a dummy and that allows Dave Attwood to dive over underneath the posts. From the replays, it looks like Roman Poite may have missed a knock-on by Nick Abendanon in the build-up to that score; the Aviva Stadium crowd certainly thinks so. Barkley converts to narrow the gap to a mere 25.

TRY! Leinster 52-20 Bath (Madigan, 78′) There it is as Ian Madigan’s first Heineken Cup try takes Leinster up and over the half-century mark. Again, it’s relentless pressure from the blue jerseys inside the Bath 22 and eventually, the replacement out-half finds a gap to cross and score. Nacewa takes over kicking duties in Sexton’s absence and scores.

TRY! Leinster 52-27 Bath (Williams, 80′) I have to say, Bath’s spirit is quite admirable even if Leinster have taken their foot off the pedal in this final quarter. Ben Williams ensures that the visitors have the final say but it’s a cosmetic score and nothing more. Barkley adds the extras with the final kick of the game.

FULL TIME: Leinster 52-27 Bath

Well, we said Leinster needed to be ruthless if they wanted to make a statement this evening, and that’s exactly what they did. A seven-try haul in front of a packed Aviva Stadium will send out a very strong Christmas message to the rest of Europe.

That’s all we’ve got for the moment. I’m off to warm up while I listen to Messrs Schmidt and co give their thoughts on this evening’s action. Stay with us later on for more reaction and we’ll be back on liveblog duty tomorrow afternoon for Munster’s game against Scarlets in Thomond Park.

Stay warm out there, people.

AS IT HAPPENED: Aironi -v- Ulster

AS IT HAPPENED: Gloucester -v- Connacht

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