Wasps 51
Leinster 10
Rory Keane reports from the Ricoh Arena
LEINSTER’S CHAMPIONS CUP campaign ended with a heavy defeat by a rampant Wasps outfit at the Ricoh Arena, with Jonathan Sexton’s head injury a major worry for Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt ahead of their Six Nations opener against Wales in a fortnight’s time.
Sexton left the field in the ninth minute following a nasty clash of heads with former Leinster centre Brendan Macken. Following a Head Injury Assessment (HIA), he did not return to the fray with debutant fly-half Cathal Marsh taking his place.
Cullen made the bold move to give six youngsters their tournament debuts against Bath at the RDS last weekend. The move proved a masterstroke as the likes of Garry Ringrose, James Tracy, Peter Dooley and Ross Moloney lit up the Dublin venue with their raw energy, skill and endeavour.
The Leinster boss resisted the temptation to throw his young talents into the fray once again. Instead, Cullen stacked his side with seasoned campaigners such as the Kearney brothers, Sexton, Luke Fitzgerald and Jamie Heaslip returning to the starting line-up.
Leinster struck early with a try of the highest quality. Fitzgerald raced onto Noel Reid’s pin-point grubber and then offloaded to the onrushing Dave Kearney.
Devin Toner and Dominic Ryan carried it up before quick hands across the backline sent Kirchner in for a sublime opening try. Sexton failed with the conversion effort from the touchline, but Wasps were left reeling with barley three minutes on the clock.
Things got worse for Wasps with their livewire scrum-half Joe Simpson leaving the field with an ankle injury. Leinster had injury problems of their own to deal with as Sexton was left reeling on the deck following a clash of heads.
He courageously rose to his feet to make a cover-tackle as Wasps attacked the right edge, but the Leinster out-half eventually left the field to be replaced by Marsh in the ninth minute.
It didn’t take long for the home side to respond, however. Wasps pounded the Leinster line using their heavy artillery allowing Gopperth to glide past Rhys Ruddock from close-range. The former Leinster man made no mistake with the conversion to make it 7-5.
England lock Joe Launchbury galloped over from 20 metres out for the home side’s second try soon after during a pulsating opening quarter.
Fitzgerald intercepted George Smith’s wayward offload and burst towards the Wasps line with Dave Kearney once again running an excellent support line.
Lorenzo Cittadini cynically played in the ball on the deck and referee Mathieu Raynalhad little hesitation in sending the Wasps tighthead to the bin.
Leinster opted for an attacking scrum, with Reddan launching Dave Kearney into the corner. The winger showed great strength to keep the ball alive and offload to Reddan, who crashed over against his former club. Marsh failed with the touchline effort.
A frenetic first-half finished with Gopperth firing over a penalty to make it 15-10 heading into the break. The Kiwi added another three-pointer early in the second-half as Wasps looked to pull away.
And pull away they did as Elliot Daly scythed through the Leinster defence for his side’s third try. Gopperth hammered over the conversion as he continued to pile the pressure on his former employers.
The precious bonus-point was in Wasps’ sights and the pack duly delivered in the 55th minute as a surging lineout maul led to a penalty try under the sticks.
It was all one-way traffic as former Auckland Blues winger Halai glided over for a fifth try following an exhausting period of phases. Marty Moore then hobbled off with an injury to compound a miserable second-half for Cullen’s troops.
There was still time for Charles Piutau and Ashley Johnson to cross for further tries to compound a traumatic defeat for Leinster.
Wasps scorers:Tries: Gopperth, Launchbury, Daly, Penalty try, Halai, Piutau, Johnson
Conversions: Gopperth [4], Jackson [1]
Penalties: Gopperth [2]Leinster scorers:
Tries: Kirchner, Reddan
Wasps: Charles Piutau; Josh Bassett, Elliot Daly (Rob Miller ‘66), Brendan Macken, Frank Halai; Jimmy Gopperth (Ruaridh Jackson ‘66), Joe Simpson (Dan Robson ‘3); Matt Mullan (Tom Bristow ‘66), Edd Shervington (Ashley Johnson ‘62), Lorenzo Cittadini (Jake Cooper-Woolley ‘62); Joe Launchbury (James Gaskell ‘62), Bradley Davies, James Haskell, George Smith, Sam Jones (Nathan Hughes ‘62).
Leinster: Rob Kearney; Zane Kirchner, Luke Fitzgerald, Noel Reid (Ben Teo’o ‘62), Dave Kearney; Johnny Sexton, Eoin Reddan (Isaac Boss ’76); Jack McGrath (Michael Bent‘ 57), Sean Cronin (Richardt Strauss ‘53), Marty Moore (Peter Dooley ‘62 ); Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock; Dominic Ryan, Jordi Murphy (Josh van der Flier ‘45), Jamie Heaslip.
