Leicester Tigers 10
Leinster 27
WITH 20 MINUTES played at Welford Road Leinster had a game on their hands. After a fast, physical start to this Pool 4 Champions Cup clash, the province found themselves trailing 10-0 and the home crowd were in fine voice.
Yet that proved to be as good as it got for Dan McKellar’s side – who wouldn’t score again as Leinster finished their pool campaign with a 27-10 bonus-point win, the crucial fourth try arriving with 85 minutes on the clock.
The result means Leinster finish the pool with 19 points after four wins from four, and can now look forward to a home game in the round of 16 when the competition resumes in April.
Welford Road is quite the cauldron when the Tigers are purring but after leaking an early try before watching Handré Pollard extend the lead, Leinster summoned a fine response to turn this contest around. By the half-hour mark they turned that 10 point deficit into a 15-10 lead and come the end of an attritional 80 minutes, Leo Cullen’s side has scored four tries through Joe McCarthy, Jordan Larmour, Dan Sheehan and Caelan Doris.
Despite lining out with 15 Ireland internationals in their starting team, the province made a shaky start at one of the great European grounds.
Andrew Porter’s concession of a scrum penalty was the most interesting moment of the early stages as both sides engaged in an extended passage of kicking, before an early Leinster wobble – Larmour spilling an aerial bomb before Hugo Keenan swept in to clean up the mess.
Leicester’s typically physical and direct approach soon reaped reward. From a lineout in the Leinster 22 Dan Kelly managed to step inside Larmour before moving the ball wide to Handro Leibenberg, who was never going to be stopped from close range. Springbok out-half Pollard added the conversion and Leicester had their tails up.
Leinster had their moments but were struggling to find holes in the Tigers defence. Good play from Robbie Henshaw and James Lowe moved them into the Leicester 22 but when a score looked inevitable, Porter was held up by Tigers captain Julián Montoya.
Leicester continued to trouble their visitors, scrum-half Tom Whiteley making a smart break before a series of Leinster infringements allowed the home side to build pressure in the 22.
Referee Andrea Piardi was growing impatient and when Sheehan went off his feet at a ruck, Leinster were warned to watch their discipline before Pollard slotted the three points from distance.
Leinster needed points and when an opportunity to kick an easy three arrived just after the 20 minute mark, Harry Byrne gladly pointed to the posts and put his team on the scoreboard.
Slowly, Leinster were finding some rhythm and Leicester found themselves pinned in their own half.
Byrne was emptied by a huge Ollie Chessum tackle but Piardi was happy with the contact. His whistle was soon in his hand as Jasper Wiese played a Leinster player off the ball. Leinster went to the corner, won the lineout clean and McCarthy went full stretch to score. Byrne’s conversion levelled the game with 28 minutes on the clock.
Five minutes later they moved into the lead.
After a big James Lowe fend and carry down the left, Garry Ringrose and Jamison Gibson-Park brought Leinster into the 22 before Keenan was grounded with the tryline in his sight. Leinster got bodies in to recycle the ball and after a strong Tadhg Furlong carry, Gibson-Park’s long, low pass found Larmour, who stepped inside and cut through two defenders to add Leinster’s second try. This time Byrne’s conversion sailed wide but Leinster were now fully in control.
Doris will have been disappointed to get held up after muscling under the posts but the half ended with another important Leinster win as Lowe scrambled back well to beat Tigers centre Matt Scott in a footrace to claim a hacked kick through.
Leinster led by five at the break and the Tigers soon shot themselves in the foot. Whiteley was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on and by the time he took his seat on the sideline, Sheehan was powering over from a smooth Leinster lineout.
The province now had 35 minutes to find the bonus-point score, yet the next quarter barrelled along without any major incident as both sides began to turn to their benches.
McCarthy thought he’d added his second try when he blocked a kick and raced over from halfway, but the play was called back for a Leicester penalty.
With an hour played the Tigers made a rare venture in the Leinster 22 but when they looked poised to pounce from a lineout, James Ryan rose highest to steal the Leicester throw.
As Leicester tried their luck again from the opposite flank, Byrne limped off, with 20-year-old Sam Prendergast sent in to see out the game.
The English side couldn’t crack the Leinster defence but were building pressure, Jack Conan sent to the bin following a series of Leinster infringements in the 22.
From a Leicester scrum the hosts then moved close to the tryline but Doris came up with a big steal.
Leicester’s chance had come and gone, but Leinster were still searching for the bonus-point score as the game became increasingly disjointed and the penalty count rose.
Entering the final minutes, replacement scrum-half Luke McGrath intercepted a Tigers ball and stormed forward before his reverse pass found Ryan, who was soon swallowed up by a swarm of Leicester defenders.
Then the levee broke. With the clock deep in the red a series of hard Leinster carries inched them into the 22 and close to the tryline, before Doris burst through two Leicester bodies to score from close range.
It was a long time coming, but Leinster got the job done.
Leicester scorers:
Try: Liebenberg
Penalty: Pollard [1/1]
Conversion: Pollard [1/1]
Leinster scorers:
Tries: McCarthy, Larmour, Sheehan, Doris
Penalty – Byrne [1/1]
Conversions – Byrne [2/3], Prendergast [0/1]
LEICESTER TIGERS: Freddie Steward; Harry Simmons (Jamie Shillcock, 36), Matt Scott, Dan Kelly (Solomone Kata, 56), Ollie Hassell-Collins; Handré Pollard, Tom Whiteley ( Ben Youngs, 58); James Cronin (Francois van Wyk, 52), Julián Montoya (capt) (Archie Vanes, 78), Joe Heyes (Will Hurd, 56); Harry Wells, Ollie Chessum (Sam Carter, 42); Hanro Liebenberg, Tommy Reffell (Kyle Hatherell, 30 HIA), Jasper Wiese.
Yellow card: Whiteley
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour ( Tommy O’Brien, 75), Garry Ringrose (co-capt), Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Harry Byrne (Sam Prendergast, 63), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath, 69); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy, 72), Dan Sheehan (Rónan Kelleher, 58), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala’alatoa, 58); Joe McCarthy (Ross Molony, 70), James Ryan (co-capt); Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier (Jack Conan, 58), Caelan Doris.
Yellow card: Conan 66
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Attendance: 25,849
