Leinster 38
Cardiff 14
THERE MAY HAVE been an unfamiliar look to the side fielded by head coach Leo Cullen, but Leinster ultimately stretched 16 points clear at the United Rugby Championship summit with a bonus point win against Cardiff at the RDS this evening.
Supplementing a brace of Luke McGrath tries, player of the match Max Deegan, Brian Deeny, Max O’Reilly and Liam Turner also touched down as the eastern province recorded their 13th consecutive league success of the 2022/23 season.
Due to the absence of their sizeable Ireland contingent, Samoan international prop Michael Ala’alatoa was the sole survivor in the Leinster starting line-up from the previous weekend’s Champions Cup triumph over Racing 92 at the nearby Aviva Stadium.
There were still a number of players with Test experience on show for the hosts, however, and one of them got the ball rolling with a deadlock-breaking try on seven minutes. Deegan has two Ireland senior caps to his name and he crashed over in style at the end of an extended spell of attacking pressure inside the Cardiff ’22’.
Although Harry Byrne was off-target from the subsequent conversion, it seemed like only a matter of time before Leinster increased their buffer. Fresh from making his 50th European appearance in blue seven days earlier, McGrath did just that after bursting through a defensive gap on the first-quarter mark.
Scrum-half McGrath hasn’t given up hope of adding to the 19 senior caps he has accumulated to date for Ireland and he feigned a pass off the base of a ruck to comfortably sprint over the whitewash for his second try on the half-hour.
Byrne (deputising for his older brother Ross) supplied the extras to both of these finishes from his half-back partner to give Leinster a commanding 19-0 interval lead.
McGrath had looked to release his fellow St Michael’s College alum Chris Cosgrave for a bonus score eight minutes after the resumption, only for a deliberate knock-on by Jason Harries to bring a halt to this particular move. The Cardiff winger was sent to the sin-bin as a result and Leinster took immediate advantage of their numerical supremacy with a try from lock Deeny off an ensuing line-out maul.
This five-pointer from the Wexford native ensured a youthful Leinster would emerge from this fixture with maximum points, but Academy star O’Reilly enhanced their cushion by touching down at the end of a sweeping attack on 55 minutes.
Following the introduction of a raft of replacements – including debutants James Culhane and Aitzol King – it was inevitable that there would be a drop-off in Leinster’s performance levels during the closing-quarter. As a consequence, Cardiff finally established a foothold inside their ’22’ and Rory Thornton dotted down for a 67th-minute try moments after being introduced off the bench.
There was further solace for the visitors in the form of a Kristian Dacey finish, but just when it looked like Leinster were content with a 17-point winning margin, outside centre Turner capitalised on some loose play inside the Cardiff defence for a stoppage-time try that was converted by Charlie Tector for his first points in professional club rugby.
Leinster Scorers
Tries: Luke McGrath 2, Max Deegan, Brian Deeny, Max O’Reilly, Liam Turner
Conversions: Harry Byrne [3 from 5], Charlie Tector [1 from 1]
Cardiff Scorers
Tries: Rory Thornton, Kristian Dacey
Conversion: Jarrod Evans [2 from 2]
LEINSTER: Chris Cosgrave (Aitzol King ’68); Max O’Reilly, Liam Turner, Ben Brownlee, Dave Kearney; Harry Byrne (Charlie Tector ’66), Luke McGrath (Nick McCarthy ’56); Michael Milne (Marcus Hanan ’56), John McKee (Tadhg McElroy ’56), Michael Ala’alatoa (Thomas Clarkson ’56); Ross Molony, Brian Deeny; Rhys Ruddock (James Culhane ’66), Scott Penny (Will Connors ’56), Max Deegan.
CARDIFF: Rhys Priestland (Matthew Morgan ’21); Owen Lane (Aled Summerhill ’71), Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas, Jason Harries; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams (Ellis Bevan ’70); Brad Thyer (Corey Domachowski ’53), Kirby Myhill (Kristian Dacey ’53), Keiron Assiratti (Will Davies-King ’74); Lopeti Timani, Seb Davies (Rory Thornton ’67); Josh Turnbull (Shane Lewis-Hughes ’67), James Botham, James Ratti.
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU).