SELECTION CAN BE tough at the best of times for Leinster, and now there could be another combination to consider for Leo Cullen and his coaching team following Harry Byrne’s encouraging performance against the Ospreys yesterday.
With Ciarán Frawley – a player some would like to see at out-half, incidentally – currently nursing a facial injury, yesterday’s bonus-point win at the RDS saw the younger of the two Byrne brothers make his first senior start at inside centre, having covered the position against Edinburgh a week previously following Frawley’s injury.
The 22-year-old certainly looked comfortable in his new home, acting as that second playmaker Leinster are so fond of and producing some nice touches in attack, all the while combining nicely with older brother Ross, who also had a fine game in his usual role at out-half.
With the duo working well against the Ospreys – who barely fired a shot in the Dublin rain – Leinster might be tempted to take a closer look at Harry in the centre role over the coming weeks, even if the player himself seems to see his long-term future back at out-half.
“Yeah, the two lads are working away well,” said Cullen.
“They give us good vision and good distribution in terms of our backline attack.
“We thought we created plenty of opportunites there (against Ospreys), and that second ball-player is important for us.
With Ciarán being a little bit unlucky, it’s a combination that’s very, very new, so we’re open-minded to see where we go with it. But obviously the two lads are two quality rugby players, so it’s good to have them.”
A dirty, damp and at times difficult evening at the RDS ended up being a night for the old guard as Leinster overcame an inaccurate, occasionally sloppy start to eventually secure the bonus-point.
Tries from Jordan Larmour and the excellent Cian Healy – both released from international camp for the weekend – helped Leinster build a 15-0 point lead by half-time after dominating possession in the opening period.
With the rhythm of the game becoming increasingly fractured after the break, a powerful Leinster bench then helped the home side reassert their dominance as they crossed for two second-half tries.
James Lowe provided the moment of the match with his brilliant end-to-end solo score before the outstanding Scott Penny added that all-important bonus-point try, while the heft and power of experienced duo Rhys Ruddock and Sean Cronin also made a noticeable impact, the latter making his 200th appearance for the province.
Cullen admitted to frustrations around Leinster’s execution at times, but all in all it was a largely positive outing for his team as they moved back to the summit of the URC table.
“It was great for Seán, the Nugget, 200th game for Leinster, it’s incredible really,” Cullen continued.
“It was lovely for him and his family out there today.
“The mix is good. There is plenty of experience there, the likes of Cian coming back from international camp, he’s great around the lads.
“At the moment, we’re just in this sequence of five games so it’s trying to get every single point we can, really. As I said, it’s pleasing to get another win, a bonus-point win at home, we’ve a very short turnaround now for the Lions next week and hopefully we get a decent crowd on Friday again.
“We’ll see what we have, obviously a number of guys will go back into (Ireland) camp so I’m not sure who exactly will be back with us, and it was nice to see James Lowe come back in as well.”
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