JIMMY GOPPERTH CAME OFF the bench to help Leinster overturn a half-time deficit and beat Connacht 8 – 16 in tonight’s inter-provincial clash in Galway.
Gopperth entered the game with Leinster trailing the western province 8 – 3 as a 54th minute replacement for Ian Madigan and went on to kick two penalties and set up their only try of the game for Gordon D’Arcy.
Connacht began brightly, signalling their intent to attack with the ball in hand thanks to the the high tempo set by Kieran Marmion.
Leinster’s heavier pack would soon force the hosts back, however, in the early stages they could not make any indent on the scoreline.
The deadlock was broken in the 22nd minute with Robbie Henshaw making both D’Arcy and Dave Kearney miss their tackle inside Connacht territory.
The young international powered clear across halfway before spinning the ball right to Fionn Carr who had the speed and step to finish it off.
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Making his full debut, out-half Jack Carty’s first attempt at goal was a commendable conversion attempt from the right touchline, but the effort drifted outside the far post. Darragh Leader took up the kicking tee for two long range penalties in the following five minutes, but fell short with both.
It was certainly not a night for kickers at the Sportsground; Madigan missed the first two of his attempts before finally getting Leinster on the scoreboard with a 35th minute penalty.
Carty however would claim the last laugh of the half, firing over a 39th minute penalty to restore Connacht’s five-point lead.
Blast
Matt O’Connor called for his strength in depth in the second period with Mike McCarthy and Mike Ross entering the fray before Gopperth. The Kiwi’s first act was to narrow the lead with a 40-metre penalty blasted on a low trajectory all the way through the posts on 57 minutes.
Five minutes later, the reigning champions hit the front with another well-struck Gopperth penalty.
Connacht’s resistance was stout and after Dan Parks replaced Cary they had a strong case for a sin-binning against Jamie Heaslip with the score 8 – 9. However, the TMO ruled the number eight’s late tackle on the Scot worthy of just a penalty.
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The wealth of international quality in the blue line began to tell as each minute wore on and the result was put out of reach for Pat Lam’s side when Gopperth ran the ball in Connacht’s 22 and got an off-load away to send D’Arcy under the posts with just seven minutes remaining.
