Leicester Tigers 14
Leinster 23
Ciarán Kennedy reports from Welford Road
IT WAS ROWDY, it was raucous and it was rough at Welford Road, but Leinster turned in a clinical performance to silence a fervoured home crowd and qualify for the semi-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup in style with a scintillating 23-14 win over Leicester Tigers.
This was a highly-anticipated contest between the United Rugby Championship leaders and a resurgent Leicester Tigers team who have been setting the pace in the Premiership, but Leo Cullen’s side built up a healthy lead across an utterly dominant first half display, backed up by a strong defensive effort in a more balanced second 40 to set up another heavyweight clash in the last four next weekend, the province now lined up to take on Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium for a place in the 28 May decider.
Based on this showing, they’re going to take some stopping. In a superb first half, Leinster played with power and style to overwhelm Leicester, and when the momentum shifted in the second half they dug deep to keep Steve Borthwick’s side at arm’s length, but Cullen will surely be frustrated with the manner in which his team made life hard for themselves in a niggly, fractured second period which they lost 14-3.
The home side were always going to try make this an attritional battle in front of a lively 20,000-strong crowd, and Leinster bodies began to bruise as soon as play kicked off, captain Johnny Sexton left rubbing his ribcage following a late hit in the opening minute.
The out-half dusted himself down to kick Leinster into an early lead, slotting a close-range penalty following an offside call against Leicester. The home crowd already had their villian for the day.
If that early score should have settled Leinster, it was Leicester who then put the foot down, kicking deep into the Leinster half and thundering into tackles.
In those early stages of this gripping quarter-final, they were winning the small moments. With memories of Ireland’s last visit to Twickenham fresh in the mind, the first scrum of the day was eagerly anticipated. Leicester crushed the Leinster pack and won the penalty, Dan Cole getting most of the credit from his teammates as the contest began to heat up, with Caelan Doris finding himself in the middle of some early pushing and shoving.
Leicester attacked the Leinster corner but came up short, Cole and James Lowe exchanging words as the play moved back infield.
The home crowd kept raising the decibels, but Leinster won the next penalty just on the edge of their own 22. Sexton celebrated it like a try, perhaps sensing an impending shift in the momentum.
The next scrum brought another penalty, this time Leinster getting the call after a big shove from Andrew Porter.
Time to play some ball. Hugo Keenan broke from deep and tore up the left wing. He eventually found himself in heavy traffic, and as the ball was reworked to Lowe, Tommy Reffell snuck in for an important steal.
But Leinster were knocking on the door and stretching their in-form hosts, this being a Leicester team that had almost forgotten what it feels like to lose at Welford Road, a ground which still retains a certain sense of magic.
The opening try arrived with just over 15 minutes played. Following a period of sustained Leinster pressure, the visitors found themselves with a lineout in the Leicester 22. Jack Conan rose highest to claim Rónan Kelleher’s throw, slipped the ball to Josh van der Flier, and the powerful flanker had the strength to muscle over from close range, Sexton adding the extras from the tee.
It felt like Leicester had thrown most of the punches, but Leinster had the speed and footwork to dodge the hits and now led 13-0 with less than 20 minutes on the clock.
They went again. Henshaw took on about four Tigers defenders and lost the battle. With Jamison Gibson-Park otherwise occupied, Lowe stepped in to sweep the ball out to Kelleher as Leinster attacked with intent and tempo. It allowed Henshaw just enough time to regather himself and join the attack again, muscling through for a very unpopular second Leinster try, which Sexton again converted.
Tigers captain Ellis Genge was now nursing a bloody nose, his team winning just 26% of the collisions in the opening 25 minutes.
Leicester then built some momentum and pieced together a promising attack, only for Harry Potter to spill a George Ford pass and kill the move. It just wasn’t clicking for them, and a vocal home support was now becoming increasingly frustrated with the flow of the game as Leinster continued to come out on the right side of most of Mathieu Raynal’s calls.
Gibson-Park buzzed around the place and kept his team on the frontfoot, Doris and Henshaw carried hard and the returning James Ryan was topping the tackle charts.
Sexton kicked another penalty to stretch their lead to 20-0 shortly before half-time.
With the interval fast approaching, Leicester had time for one last roll of the dice, Freddie Steward showing excellent hands to release Chris Ashton. The wing kicked in behind and put the burners on, but Hugo Keenan was on hand to slide in and clean up.
Raynal called time on a breathless opening period, and the Tigers went into the changing rooms scoreless at the break for the first time in three years, the Premiership’s form team struggling to handle one of Leinster’s most impressive 40-minute showings of the season.
They desperately needed something to change, and Borthwick waited just five minutes into the second half before sending in the giant frame of Nemani Nadolo. Rejuvenated and refocus, the Tigers then began to play with more ambition.
With the next passage of play, a Leicester scrum put Leinster on the back foot, retreating towards their own line. The Tigers patiently moved the ball infield before a big Genge carry freed up some space. Ben Youngs hit Ford, who then produced a smart skip pass out to Ashton, who darted over. Ford nailed the conversion. The Leicester locals found their voice again.
It was now all Leicester as green jerseys charged at the Leinster line. Nadolo eventually crashed over but was held up thanks to some superb defensive work by Van der Flier and Jimmy O’Brien, Leicester then kicking to the corner from the resulting penalty, only for Ryan to win a big turnover which allowed his team momentarily clear the danger.
Yet Leinster were struggling to get the ball out of their half. Sexton was pinged for not releasing, but Leicester took a quick-tap penalty and knocked the ball on almost immediately, letting another decent chance go to waste.
The next score was going to be crucial, and it almost fell Leinster’s way in farcical circumstances. Under little pressure, Potter directed a clearing kick low and into the legs of Van der Flier, the ball ricocheting back towards the Tigers tryline, where Jasper Wiese managed to win a frantic footrace against his fellow number eight, Conan.
In a bid to gain more control of the game, Cullen replaced his prize props, Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong making way for Cian Healy and Michael Ala’alatoa, while Ross Byrne came in for Sexton, the Leinster captain soaking up the boos as he trudged off the field.
Byrne’s first act was to kick Leinster’s first points of the second half, his penalty pushing the visitors 23-7 clear as the game entered the final 15 minutes, but the province would have to ride more Leicester pressure as their scrum collapsed again on the five-metre line.
The two packs lined each up other again, but this time Leinster won the exchange, Raynal pinging the Tigers for boring in, the latest unpopular call from an intense set-piece battle, the mounting scrum resets suiting Leinster just fine as the clock wound down.
The Tigers eventually bundled over for a second try in the final minute courtesy of Nic Dolly, but the result was long beyond doubt, Leinster’s place in the last four safe and secure.
Toulouse will test them in different ways, but this was a reminder that Leinster are just as happy rolling their sleeves up as they are letting their hair down. The march for that fifth star on the jersey continues.
Leicester scorers –
Tries: Ashton, Dolly
Conversions: Ford [2/2]
Leinster scorers –
Tries: Van der Flier, Henshaw
Penalties: Sexton [2/2], Byrne [1/1]
Conversions: Sexton [2/2]
LEICESTER TIGERS: Freddie Steward; Chris Ashton (Freddie Burns, 67), Matias Moroni (Nemani Nadolo 45), Guy Porter, Harry Potter; George Ford, Ben Youngs (Richard Wigglesworth, 59); Ellis Genge (captain) (James Whitcombe, 77), Julian Montoya (Nic Dolly, 74) Dan Cole (Joe Heyes, 59); Ollie Chessum, Calum Green (Harry Wells, 63); Hanro Liebenberg, Tommy Reffell (George Martin, 50), Jasper Wiese.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O’Brien (Tommy O’Brien, 73), Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Johnny Sexton (captain) ( Ross Byrne, 63), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath 71); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy, 63) (Porter, 77), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan, 46), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala’alatoa, 63); Ross Molony, James Ryan (Joe McCarthy, 75); Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (Rhys Ruddock, 71).
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
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