Leinster 22
Cardiff Blues 21
Ryan Bailey reports from the RDS
IT’S BEEN A while since any real questions have been asked of Leinster, particularly at home, but Cardiff Blues came to Dublin and played an explosive brand of rugby which caused Leo Cullen’s men real problems.
To their credit, the hosts stood up and responded as they dug deep to edge past the Welsh side and retake control of the Guinness Pro12 with the narrowest of one-points victories.
A win’s a win, but Leinster were below-par and their performance was riddled with inaccuracies, particularly in defence as they were caught three times on the counter-attack.
The visitors were outstanding to watch and if they had come away with the points nobody inside the RDS could have denied them that, but instead it was Leinster who warmed-up for next week’s Champions Cup quarter-final on a winning note.
Cullen and his players will know they’ll need to be an awful lot better down the road at the Aviva Stadium in a week for the visit of Wasps but maybe this outing was exactly what they needed.
Having taken 20 points from 20 during the Six Nations period, the eastern province haven’t been tested in quite a while so it was perhaps a timely wake-up call ahead of the business end of the season.
On a beautiful afternoon in Ballsbridge, Dan Leavy’s early try set the hosts on their way but Cardiff weren’t here to roll over and came agonisingly close to a first win over Leinster since 2007.
Tomos Williams scored either side of the break and when substitute Sion Bennett touched down with his first involvement in the second half, the Blues held a 21-17 lead heading into the final quarter.
But Leinster got out of jail through Ross Molony’s 67th minute, although Cardiff could have snatched it only for Matthew Morgan to squander a late chance as he threw a poor pass to Willis Halaholo with numbers and space out wide.
Earlier in the same corner, Noel Reid was the architect of the game’s opening try, as he delayed the pass before deftly stabbing through for Leavy to latch onto and finish brilliantly in the corner. Ross Byrne miscued the conversion but it dropped over and Leinster were up and running.
It was the type of score — pace, movement and highly-skilful — we’ve almost come to expect to see at this place, although Cardiff carried an equally potent running threat at the other end.
Eight minutes later, we saw it in full flow. Hayden Triggs knocked on in midfield and the visitors turned defence into attack in devastating fashion as the ball was moved wide through Jarrad Hoeata and Rey Lee-Lo.
Leinster were exposed down the blindside, allowing Blaine Scully to dart down the line and offload inside to Lee-Lo, who had made excellent ground as the support runner. The Samoan drew the final defender and set Williams away, with Steven Shingler adding the extras.
It was a warning Leinster failed to take heed of as they were caught, and punished, on two further occasions, although Luke McGrath’s close-range finish had given Cullen’s men a 14-7 half-time advantage.
The home side were back out five minutes early to go through a passing drill with backs coach Girvan Dempsey but still lacked an intensity and tempo upon the resumption.
Sevens minutes into the second half and Cardiff were back level, and it all came after the Welsh region turned it over in their own 22 and broke with pace and precision. This time down the right, Gareth Anscombe danced his way out of danger before setting Kristian Dacey away.
The hooker, who received the ball well inside his own half, showed explosive speed to tear away from the Leinster cover and pass inside for Williams to run home his second try of the afternoon.
To be caught once is reckless, to be caught twice is thoughtless but to be caught on the counter-attack three times is inexcusable and will leave the coaching staff with plenty to work on during the week.
Byrne’s penalty had re-established Leinster’s lead but it only lasted two minutes as the Blues stunned the RDS.
The hosts spilled possession, Shingler released Lee-Lo and, just like he had done on the other side in the first half, combined with Scully to give substitute Bennett the simple task of dotting down under the posts.
It was breathless stuff and forced Leinster to dig deep in the final quarter — and they responded to survive a major scare.
Byrne pinged a penalty deep into Cardiff territory and the pressure eventually told as Molony bundled over after a powerful rolling maul had inched its way towards the line.
George Clancy needed the Television Match Official to confirm the grounding, and after several minutes of deliberation, the try was eventually awarded to a huge sigh of relief from the natives.
Cardiff came again in the closing stages, throwing the ball around in search of a match-winning score, but fell just short as Leinster hung on to take the points.
There’s plenty of room for improvement, and they’ll need to as attention turns to Europe.
Leinster scorers:Tries: Dan Leavy, Luke McGrath, Ross Molony.Conversions: Ross Byrne [2 from 3]Penalties: Ross Byrne [1 from 1]Cardiff scorers:Tries: Tomos Williams [2], Sion BennettConversions: Steven Shingler [3 from 3]Penalties:
LEINSTER: 15. Joey Carbery; 14. Adam Byrne, 13. Rory O’Loughlin, 12. Noel Reid (22. Tom Daly 58′), 11. Isa Nacewa (captain); 10. Ross Byrne (23. Fergus McFadden 67′) 9. Luke McGrath (21. Jamison Gibson-Park 58′); 1. Cian Healy (17. Peter Dooley 50′), 2. Richardt Strauss (16. James Tracy 50′), 3. Michael Bent (18. Mike Ross 50′); 4. Ross Molony, 5. Hayden Triggs (19. Mick Kearney 61′); 6. Dan Leavy, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Rhys Ruddock.
Replacements not used: 20. Max Deegan.
CARDIFF BLUES: 15. Matthew Morgan; 14. Alex Cuthbert, 13. Rey Lee-Lo, 12. Steven Shingler, 11. Blaine Scully (captain) (23. Tom James 64′) 10. Gareth Anscombe (22. Willis Halaholo 64′), 9. Tomos Williams (21. Lloyd Williams 70′), 1. Corey Domachowski (17. Gethin Jenkins 56′) 2. Kristian Dacey (16. Matthew Rees 56′), 3. Anton Peikrishvili (18. Scott Andrews 30′) 4. George Earle, 5. Jarrad Hoeata (20. Ellis Jenkins 74′); 6. Macauley Cook, 7. Josh Navidi, 8. Nick Williams (19. Sion Bennett 56′)
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU).
Attendance: 10, 106.
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