THE GOOD NEWS for the small batch of Harlequins supporters who travelled over for this Champions Cup round of 16 tie was that the 3pm kick-off allowed them a good run at the evening on a beautiful spring day in Dublin.
That was about all they could take from an utterly one-sided game in Croke Park, the London club failing to put any points on the scoreboard as Leinster cruised into the next weekend’s quarter-finals with a 10-try, 62-0 win.
Leo Cullen’s side will host the winners of Glasgow v Leicester in Dublin next weekend.
The province were utterly dominant as they put on a show for the 55,000 crowd in Drumcondra, with seven of those 10 tries coming in a ruthless second-half display.
The game already looked out of reach by the time referee Pierre Brousset called for half-time, by which point Leinster were coasting at 19-0 – Sam Prendergast, Joe McCarthy and Jamie Osborne supplying the first three tries.
Fans watch on from Hill 16. Nick Elliot / INPHO
Nick Elliot / INPHO / INPHO
Osborne’s was perhaps the pick of the bunch, the Kildare man finishing a scintillating counter-attack move just shy of the half-hour mark. After Jamison Gibson-Park reacted quickest to sweep up a loose ball, Leinster moved it through the hands via Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, Osborne then making yards out wide before collecting Josh van der Flier’s slick pass out the back.
Van der Flier had been prominent in the opening period, his hard ball-carrying helping shove Leinster up the pitch as Harlequins’ promising start faded into an exercise in damage limitation.
It was Van der Flier’s purposeful burst that oiled the wheels for McCarthy’s try, the lock running over in space after a clinical Leinster attack. Playing with penalty advantage, Prendergast clipped a chip over the top which Caelan Doris gathered in the 22 before Prendergast flung a pass wide to McCarthy.
It was a sucker-punch for Harlequins, arriving just two minutes after Prendergast had opened the scoring for the home side in the 15th minute, running a good line to latch onto Gibson-Park’s short pass after Dan Sheehan had skittled Leigh Halfpenny on the sideline.
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The Leinster out-half had failed to convert his own try but made no mistake off the tee with efforts two and three.
Garry Ringrose evades Harlequins' Nick David. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Harlequins’ best period came and went in the opening quarter. The London side enjoyed the bulk of the early territory but couldn’t find a way to crack the Leinster defence, seeing a promising maul held up over the tryline before Marcus Smith dropped an ambitious drop-goal effort well short of the posts. Halfpenny had also had a shot at putting the first points on the board but his long-range penalty attempt didn’t have the legs.
From there, the Premiership side struggled to live with Leinster’s physicality and accuracy and a string of forced first half-changes – two HIAs, one injury, and one blood switch – didn’t help their cause.
A second-half Harlequins rally never looked likely and Leinster should have extended their lead in the opening minutes of the second period, Prendergast and James Lowe both showing nice hands as the province rolled toward the tryline before RG Snyman barrelled over, with a TMO check confirming the Springbok lock was unable to touch the ball down between the falling Harlequins defenders.
The next passage of play saw Snyman rise to win a five-metre Leinster lineout, with Van der Flier then crashing through for try number four, Prendergast again dragging his conversion wide.
The province were humming and had no intention of taking their foot off the gas. Three minutes after Van der Flier went over, Ringrose was slicing through on the opposite flank.
As Prendergast kicked his team to a 31-0 cushion, Leo Cullen turned to his bench and sent in Jordie Barrett. Harlequins had a long half-hour ahead of them.
Leinster's Ross Byrne, Jamie Osborne and Jordie Barrett celebrate a try. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Prendergast drained every inch out of a monster kick to touch and after a couple of false starts, Sheehan rumbled through a driving maul to score Leinster’s sixth.
The province could now see out the game in utter comfort, Barrett chipping and flicking the ball around before Luke Northmore’s outstretched hand denied Max Deegan a run-in try and saw the Harlequins replacement yellow-carded as Leinster added a penalty try to their tally.
There was more to come as Leinster rejigged their backline, Prendergast moving to fullback as Barrett shifted to the wing, with Ross Byrne getting in on the action in the closing 10 minutes, converting his own score.
As some of the crowd began to file out, Lowe wrapped up the scoring as he went over twice in quick succession to bring Leinster to 10 tries.
Utterly, ruthlessly dominant.
Leinster scorers:
Tries – Prendergast, McCarthy, Osborne, Van der Flier, Ringrose, Sheehan, penalty try, Byrne, Lowe [2].
Conversions – Prendergast [3/6], Byrne [2/3]
Harlequins scorers:
Penalty – Halfpenny [0/1]
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan (Ross Byrne, 68); Jamie Osborne, Garry Ringrose (Jordie Barrett, 51), Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath, 50); Andrew Porter (Jack Boyle, 59), Dan Sheehan (Gus McCarthy, 59), Rabah Slimani (Tadhg Furlong, 46); Joe McCarthy (Max Deegan, 59), RG Snyman (Ryan Baird, 59); Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
HARLEQUINS: Leigh Halfpenny (Luke Northmore, 53); Tyrone Green, Oscar Beard (Luke Northmore, 34 HIA-HT), Ben Waghorn (Jamie Benson 69), Nick David (Luke Northmore, 18-30 blood); Marcus Smith, Will Porter (Danny Care, 28 HIA); Fin Baxter, Jack Walker (Sam Riley, 59), Titi Lamositele (Simon Kerrod, 59); Joe Launchbury (Irne Herbst, 59), Chandler Cunningham-South; Jack Kenningham, Will Evans (George Hammond, 28), Alex Dombrandt (capt).
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Leinster smash past Harlequins with 10-try rout at Croke Park
Leinster 62
Harlequins 0
THE GOOD NEWS for the small batch of Harlequins supporters who travelled over for this Champions Cup round of 16 tie was that the 3pm kick-off allowed them a good run at the evening on a beautiful spring day in Dublin.
That was about all they could take from an utterly one-sided game in Croke Park, the London club failing to put any points on the scoreboard as Leinster cruised into the next weekend’s quarter-finals with a 10-try, 62-0 win.
Leo Cullen’s side will host the winners of Glasgow v Leicester in Dublin next weekend.
The province were utterly dominant as they put on a show for the 55,000 crowd in Drumcondra, with seven of those 10 tries coming in a ruthless second-half display.
The game already looked out of reach by the time referee Pierre Brousset called for half-time, by which point Leinster were coasting at 19-0 – Sam Prendergast, Joe McCarthy and Jamie Osborne supplying the first three tries.
Osborne’s was perhaps the pick of the bunch, the Kildare man finishing a scintillating counter-attack move just shy of the half-hour mark. After Jamison Gibson-Park reacted quickest to sweep up a loose ball, Leinster moved it through the hands via Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, Osborne then making yards out wide before collecting Josh van der Flier’s slick pass out the back.
Van der Flier had been prominent in the opening period, his hard ball-carrying helping shove Leinster up the pitch as Harlequins’ promising start faded into an exercise in damage limitation.
It was Van der Flier’s purposeful burst that oiled the wheels for McCarthy’s try, the lock running over in space after a clinical Leinster attack. Playing with penalty advantage, Prendergast clipped a chip over the top which Caelan Doris gathered in the 22 before Prendergast flung a pass wide to McCarthy.
It was a sucker-punch for Harlequins, arriving just two minutes after Prendergast had opened the scoring for the home side in the 15th minute, running a good line to latch onto Gibson-Park’s short pass after Dan Sheehan had skittled Leigh Halfpenny on the sideline.
The Leinster out-half had failed to convert his own try but made no mistake off the tee with efforts two and three.
Harlequins’ best period came and went in the opening quarter. The London side enjoyed the bulk of the early territory but couldn’t find a way to crack the Leinster defence, seeing a promising maul held up over the tryline before Marcus Smith dropped an ambitious drop-goal effort well short of the posts. Halfpenny had also had a shot at putting the first points on the board but his long-range penalty attempt didn’t have the legs.
From there, the Premiership side struggled to live with Leinster’s physicality and accuracy and a string of forced first half-changes – two HIAs, one injury, and one blood switch – didn’t help their cause.
A second-half Harlequins rally never looked likely and Leinster should have extended their lead in the opening minutes of the second period, Prendergast and James Lowe both showing nice hands as the province rolled toward the tryline before RG Snyman barrelled over, with a TMO check confirming the Springbok lock was unable to touch the ball down between the falling Harlequins defenders.
The next passage of play saw Snyman rise to win a five-metre Leinster lineout, with Van der Flier then crashing through for try number four, Prendergast again dragging his conversion wide.
The province were humming and had no intention of taking their foot off the gas. Three minutes after Van der Flier went over, Ringrose was slicing through on the opposite flank.
As Prendergast kicked his team to a 31-0 cushion, Leo Cullen turned to his bench and sent in Jordie Barrett. Harlequins had a long half-hour ahead of them.
Prendergast drained every inch out of a monster kick to touch and after a couple of false starts, Sheehan rumbled through a driving maul to score Leinster’s sixth.
The province could now see out the game in utter comfort, Barrett chipping and flicking the ball around before Luke Northmore’s outstretched hand denied Max Deegan a run-in try and saw the Harlequins replacement yellow-carded as Leinster added a penalty try to their tally.
There was more to come as Leinster rejigged their backline, Prendergast moving to fullback as Barrett shifted to the wing, with Ross Byrne getting in on the action in the closing 10 minutes, converting his own score.
As some of the crowd began to file out, Lowe wrapped up the scoring as he went over twice in quick succession to bring Leinster to 10 tries.
Utterly, ruthlessly dominant.
Leinster scorers:
Tries – Prendergast, McCarthy, Osborne, Van der Flier, Ringrose, Sheehan, penalty try, Byrne, Lowe [2].
Conversions – Prendergast [3/6], Byrne [2/3]
Harlequins scorers:
Penalty – Halfpenny [0/1]
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan (Ross Byrne, 68); Jamie Osborne, Garry Ringrose (Jordie Barrett, 51), Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath, 50); Andrew Porter (Jack Boyle, 59), Dan Sheehan (Gus McCarthy, 59), Rabah Slimani (Tadhg Furlong, 46); Joe McCarthy (Max Deegan, 59), RG Snyman (Ryan Baird, 59); Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
HARLEQUINS: Leigh Halfpenny (Luke Northmore, 53); Tyrone Green, Oscar Beard (Luke Northmore, 34 HIA-HT), Ben Waghorn (Jamie Benson 69), Nick David (Luke Northmore, 18-30 blood); Marcus Smith, Will Porter (Danny Care, 28 HIA); Fin Baxter, Jack Walker (Sam Riley, 59), Titi Lamositele (Simon Kerrod, 59); Joe Launchbury (Irne Herbst, 59), Chandler Cunningham-South; Jack Kenningham, Will Evans (George Hammond, 28), Alex Dombrandt (capt).
Yellow cards: Northmore 67, Benson 75.
Referee: Pierre Brousset [FFR].
Attendance: 55,627.
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European Rugby Champions Cup Dominant Leinster Rugby Harlequins