Leinster 15
Clermont Auvergne 7
LEINSTER ARE TWO from two in the Champions Cup but for the second week running the province will have frustrations around many elements of their performance.
In Bristol last weekend Leo Cullen’s side recovered from an error-ridden first half to finish strongly and while they had to work hard to see off Clermont Auvergne on a chilly Dublin night, this round two victory was far from convincing, with a Christmas bonus point never looking likely for the hosts.
Two first half tries, courtesy of Garry Ringrose and Jordie Barrett, alongside a second-half Sam Prendergast penalty proved enough for the province but they made life difficult for themselves in front of almost 35,000 supporters at the Aviva.
For large periods Leinster’s attack struggled for cohesion while their lineout work was messy throughout – losing seven across the 80 minutes.
After a fractured start to the game Clermont struck first. They pinched a lineout in the Leinster 22 and built some territory before Irae Simone – the 29-year-old centre starting at out-half for the first time – went to the boot. His kick bounced fortuitously for Pierre Fouyssac. Clermont got quick ball and as Leinster scrambled back Alivereti Raka went over the top to score from close range, with Baptiste Jauneau adding the conversion.
Leinster’s inaccurate start continued with the home side also losing their next two lineouts. First, Clermont got up to steal the ball after an excellent Prendergast kick gave his side an opportunity from the 5m line.
A few minutes later Leinster were set up on the opposite side near the 22, but Rónan Kelleher’s deep throw was crooked.
In between, the province worked their way into a promising position in the 22 before Andrew Porter was pinged for not releasing.
A lively opening period was full of incident with no return for Leinster, as home debutant Jordie Barrett experienced a few difficult moments at fullback.
In the 22nd minute they finally made their possession count. Attacking from a lineout, this time Kelleher’s throw was clean and Leinster quickly worked the ball across the posts. Prendergast linked beautifully with Deegan before hitting Ringrose, who ran a sweet line to score. Prendergast’s conversion levelled the scores.
Clermont almost immediately hit back. Prendergast couldn’t gather a dropping ball, setting the French side racing for the line after Simone did well to scoop up possession. A clinical counter looked inevitable but the final pass was slightly behind Alex Newsome. The fullback couldn’t get his hands on the ball and Barrett was on hand to clear the danger.
The New Zealander’s intervention sparked an end-to-end Leinster move, with James Ryan breaking away from a cluster of Clermont bodies in midfield. Liam Turner added momentum after cleverly avoiding a tackle out wide, and a breathless burst of play ended with a Leinter penalty near the Clermont posts. What followed was clinical, the ball moving hands between Jamison Gibson-Park, Deegan, Prendergast and Barrett, who muscled through two defenders to score. Prendergast’s conversion struck the post but his team led by five following two tries in four devastating minutes.
That was as good as it got in the opening period as the game became increasingly fractured, with the home support voicing their displeasure at some of Luke Pearce’s decisions. A spirited, physical Clermont side will have felt they should have had more to show to for their efforts at half-time.
Leinster carried their own frustrations into the second half – within a minute of the restart Kelleher was watching another lineout throw end up in Clermont hands. It was their fifth lost lineout of the night.
Another superb Prendergast penalty put Leinster back on the 5m, and while they executed the lineout the ball was lost on the ground and Clermont survived.
Prendergast was having a fine game and an attempted chip over the top saw the out-half clattered to the ground in the process, resulting in a yellow card for Clermont second row Peceli Yato. As Prendergast dusted himself down to add three points from the tee, Leo Cullen sent in RG Snyman, Jack Conan, Rabah Slimani and Gus McCarthy.
In Bristol Leinster’s changes had immediately lifted things but here they found themselves on the backfoot as the errors began to pile up. Two Prendergast kicks failed to find touch in quick succession before the 21-year-old knocked on while trying to police a Clermont kick along the touchline.
On the hour mark Leinster moved into a promising attack but saw it stopped as Barrett fired a close pass at Snyman’s head. There was little the South African lock could do as the ball was knocked-on.
A booming Barrett kick then put Clermont under pressure on the edge of their 22. Leinster got up to disrupt the lineout but Barnabe Massa still managed to peel out with the ball. Clermont broke down the wing and the try looked on, but Porter worked hard to scramble back and make an important intervention. The French side came away with a scrum but Leinster won a pressure-relieving penalty as the rain picked up.
The pace of the game was now far removed from the flowing first half but Leinster were doing enough to keep their visitors at arm’s length – another scrum ending with Slimani winning Leinster’s second scrum penalty on the bounce. Ross Byrne sent his team into the 22 but Leinster’s accuracy let them down at the lineout again.
Leinster spent the closing minutes into the Clermont 22 while failing to punch a hole. Conan had the tryline in his sights but knocked-on at the posts. Leinster followed up with a penalty, but Pearce correctly spotted that Fintan Gunne didn’t tap the ball off his boot as he attempted a quick-tap.
It was a sloppy end to a largely forgettable encounter. Leinster dug deep to avoid an upset but have plenty to address before they return to this competition after the Christmas interpos.
Leinster scorers:
Tries – Ringrose, Barrett
Conversion – Prendergast [1/2]
Penalty – Prendergast [1/1]
Clermont scorers:
Try – Raka
Conversion – Jauneau [1/1]
LEINSTER: Jordie Barrett; Liam Turner (Andrew Osborne, 53), Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast (Ross Byrne, 65), Jamison Gibson-Park (Fintan Gunne, 65); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy, 76), Rónan Kelleher (Gus McCarthy, 48), Tom Clarkson (Rabah Slimani, 48); Joe McCarthy (RG Snyman, 48), James Ryan; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier (Jack Conan, 48), Caelan Doris (capt).
CLERMONT: Alex Newsome; Lucas Tauzin, Pierre Fouyssac (Theo Giral, 28), George Moala (Ben Urdapilleta, 17 HIA), Alivereti Raka; Irae Simone, Baptiste Jauneau (Sebastien Bezy, 68); Etienne Falgoux (Barnabe Massa, 52), Etienne Fourcade (Giorgi Akhaladze, 52), Michael Ala’alatoa (Cristian Ojovan, HT); Peceli Yato, Rob Simmons; Killian Tixeront, Alexandre Fischer (Antoine Chalus-Cercy,, 68), Fritz Lee (capt).
Yellow card: Peceli Yato 48
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Crowley misses touch twice and he should never play for Ireland again. Sam P does it and he’s made MOTM. There’s a bit of imbalance in the coverage there. Not having a go at Sam, he was fine. Porter was MOTM though and by a long way. He destroyed his old teammate in the scrum
@Michael Corkery: I know Michael but Sam’s all round game was exceptional tonight again and Crowley’s was not last night. Neither should be savaged over the missed kicks but I’ve no doubt they’ll be reviewed and addressed going forward. It’s good to see them fearless and trying to get every last inch out of it but they need to be nailed. Especially in European games like these.
@anthony davoren: as a munster and ire fan iv no idea why people take so much pleasure in seeing lads make mistakes. Lads make mistakes, get over it and don’t be a bell end about it
@Michael Corkery: agree with this, not a MOTM performance by SP but was by AP.
Cahill and Lenihan were like besotted adolescents whenever Sam caught the ball and kicked or passed it but rushed to gloss over any and all errors by him. He is a very good player, helped by playing in a very good team – a team which made far too many basically errors today.
@Michael Corkery: get your tinfoil hat off for once
@scott casey: correct
@Michael Corkery: I didn’t see the Munster match, but the law is an ass here, imo. Someone is in touch, jumps up, catches the ball, & lands infield. As far as I’m concerned, they remain ‘in touch’ until they land infield. Ditto the other way around, a player in the field of play is not ‘in touch’, until they touch the ground outside the field of play (if they are jumping to keep a ball infield.
@Michael Corkery: Pretty sure there was only one person saying Jack should never play for Ire again and he was fairly well shut down.
Neither fly half ran the attack brilliantly, I think prendergast was a little too ambitious sometimes, but he’ll learn from that. Defences quite good on both sides. But lads the lineout needs to be looked at. Every team is attacking Ireland or Leinster’s lineout. If Leinster are to beat Stade Rochelais it needs to be sorted out urgently.
@Conor Lynott: 100%, our line out is deeply concerning. If it doesn’t get sorted it’ll be another trophyless year.
@Conor Lynott: i don’t agree with you often: here, you are bang on.
@peter lynch: Absolutely agree. Poor performance by Leinster too many mistakes but I thought San P was steady… Could be another chocker of a year….
Very, very sloppy display. Some of these Leinster players are beginning to believe their own hype. A win is a win but the attack has regressed so much over the last few years. I don’t know if that’s Nienaber’s influence or what. Functional rather than entertaining. I think we’ve fallen behind the top French sides, the likes of Toulouse don’t fear Leinster any more.
@Aidan Farrell: Look, I’d rather have these issues now than later on in the competition. In previous years, Leinster have coasted through the pool stages. If they wanted to be tested, they got what they wanted. Toulouse and La Rochelle are in good form, but they haven’t been up against the quality of opposition Leinster have.
@Conor Lynott: That’s true. The teams that look flashy in the early matches often fall flat later on.
Where’s that melt that won’t stop banging the “Ireland’s line out has been malfunctioning because of Tadgh Beirne” in every comments section for Munster and Ireland? That match clear evidence that there is many moving parts to a line out and no other hooker or line out caller in Irish rugby currently to resolve the issue except maybe Sheehan.
yeesh, crispy one at the Aviva, fair play to Clermont, they left it all out there, no kick chase in them at 77 :)… They needed to take those 3 at the end of the first half, key bad decision, teams in general seem to refuse points, mad at this level. Harsh on some excellent defence work to give player of the match to Sam, held his own, good game on average, rugby is about the new fan now so the front row are gonna have to get some headlines. Thought Porter was excellent, Henshaw, Leinster midfield shipped off a front liner and fronted up well. The French had heaps of chances, Ninebar will be the most pleased of the coaching group. Great win to keep Irish heads above water.
@Thesaltyurchin: good comment
Two bang average sides
@5sZl1dX2: Average game but both within the top 10 teams in Europe. Good to have at least one Irish team there.
@5sZl1dX2: ha ha ha ha
@5sZl1dX2:
James Ryan had the game of his life. Deserved MOTM ahead of Prendergast who was pretty good, and that’s it. Work to be done Leinster. The facking lineout.
@Carmine Lorenzo: his calling of the lineout was a bit of a disaster though
@Carmine Lorenzo: The lineout is killing us at the moment (Leinster and Ireland). From what I saw (which wasn’t much due to Christmas party) Kelleher through 3 straight to Clermont and that’s not on the caller.
@Carmine Lorenzo: 100 percent
@Paul Ennis: I hope you enjoyed your Christmas party! Yeah he has 3 that went straight to the Clermont jumper at 2. It genuinely looked like he was the Clermont hooker throwing to a teammate. Our jumpers were nowhere near. I am loathe to pin everything on the thrower, as we all know there’s a lot more to it than that, but it appears he is not throwing with total confidence. Gus Mac had his own issues from touch after coming on too. So there is something up! I wonder what it would look like if we had an alternative jumper in the row instead of Joe Mac as well as a Baird or Deegan type jumper in the backrow. Could we also shorten the lineout the odd time if struggling? I feel Leinster and Ireland never do this.
All the best players on the pitch last night and tonight weren’t Irish. We have so many players off form, alarm bells for 6 nations.
@colm buckley: I thought Porter was very good tonight. Sam P made a few mistakes but was overall good. Ringrose as well. A few of the Ireland players look like they’d benefit from a couple of weekends without a match. 4 tests + 2 HC’s in a row. Ryan, VDF and Doris in particular could do with a break
@colm buckley: are you serious about tonight’s game??? Did you actually watch it, an absolute BS comment
@colm buckley: you do know our record in the 5n and 6N. Historically Ireland won only one prize, the wooden spoon. We have, in the last two decades punched above our weight. Our expectations are unrealistic.
Sam was decent but made mistakes, Barrett was sensational , he is another level
Sometimes you just have to win ugly. Sam was fantastic, conditions dictated the 2nd half, it became more disjointed due to handling errors. Great to see the scrum on fire but the line out, what a mess
@Dave Kelly: What do you think the problem is with the Lineout?
@Dave Kelly: He was fantastic but no more than Crowley last night those missed touch kicks are criminal at that level. It’s important to assess both players equally.
@Thesaltyurchin: Robyn McBride?
@Michael Corkery: lol! :)
@Thesaltyurchin: I was at the game and from my view there were 3 over throws then the others were lack of movement allowing opposition pod to guess where ball was going and beat leinster to the lift
@scott casey: What about the crooked ones!
@Lulu: sure there was only 3 crooked throws so not even worth mentioning ;)
@scott casey: 1/3 of your line out losses were crooked throws ….. not worth mentioning????
@Thesaltyurchin: Leinster really missing a line-out specialist. Joe and James are great locks around the park with attack and defence, but don’t possess the line out nous that is vital in producing a good set piece.
@Lulu: i was joking.
@scott casey: Lol! nicely played!
A win is a win but that was not impressive. It raises concerns for the Six Nations, considering most of that pack and several of the backs will be in the game day 23.