IT WASN’T PRETTY, but Leinster added another game to their season. Another shot at the Pro12 title.
Edging past the Glasgow Warriors secures the eastern province a third consecutive final place. Ulster may well be the designated home side for the 25 May final, but Leinster may well arrive more motivated than ever.
The 17-15 win took an almighty defensive effort in the final 10 minutes as Gregor Townsend’s men drove to force an upset.
This game was never likely to be anything but tight, but the early withdrawal of Brian O’Driscoll along with a sparse crowd made this a subdued semi-final for long portions.
Leinster’s players and staff have only ever placed the utmost importance on the Pro12. Yet at the RDS tonight, supporters voted with their feet in favour of Europe. Only 13,235 turned out to witness the beginning of the end for Joe Schmidt, Jonathan Sexton (Brian O’Driscoll?) and Isa Nacewa.
The majority of those were silenced when Niko Matawalu, the touchpaper of so much Warrior invention, caught the blue pillars napping to snipe underneath the posts to give the visitors a 7-3 lead after 15 minutes.
After Stuart Hogg, showing his kicking credentials ahead of the Lions tour, extended the lead man of the match Jamie Heaslip narrowed it again off the back of a clinical blue maul.
The Ireland captain has hit form at an opportune time of the season – against Biarritz a fortnight ago he was the rampant, running number eight of old. Against Glasgow today, he was back to his more characteristic heavy-lifting role, no less pivotal to his side’s fortune.
“We showed moments of what we can do,” Heaslip told TG4 postmatch. “It wasn’t for the full 80 and we were very lucky against a side like that – they put two tries to one on us, which was disappointing.”
With both kickers having a mixed day off the tee, Jonathan Sexton managed to kick the blues into an 11-10 half time lead and that’s how it stayed as the game moved into arm-wrestle mode for 20 minutes.
Sexton extended the gap to seven with two more penalties, but then Leinster had to turn on their heels to withstand waves of Glasgow attack.
Drama
Mark Bennett crashed over right of the posts on 75 minutes to revive the dramatic finish. However Hogg was presented a difficult kick on the right flank and the erratic Dublin wind kept the gap a two-points.
Back-to-back finals to look forward to then for Leinster rugby, but with Schmidt reporting O’Driscoll’s injury as a back spasm and casting doubt over a calf injury sustained by Gordon D’Arcy, It seems the province’s bloodied troops will calling for ice for medical reasons rather than celebration tonight.
