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Adam Byrne celebrates his first-half try against Zebre. Dan Sheridan/INPHO
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Adam Byrne gets his moment in the sun as 7-try Leinster crush Zebre

The wing scored two tries on his first apperance for the province since December 2019.

Leinster 43

Zebre 7

Ciarán Kennedy reports from the RDS

IN THE MOMENTS before kick-off at RDS, the stadium announcer did his best to whip up some excitement, letting the crowd know that “The URC is rugby like you’ve never seen it before.”

It’ll be some time before we know if that turns out to be the case, but the statement certainly felt a little optimistic ahead of this particular fixture.

Zebre travelled to Dublin with the weight of 15 successive defeats on their shoulders, and it took them just two minutes to fall behind here as Scott Penny powered over from close range. 

At that moment you feared for the Italians, but in truth Leinster will probably be more frustrated with how the rest of that opening period played out.

Following last week’s strangely off-colour showing against the Dragons, Leinster were determined to put on a more clinical showing today, but too often their accuracy and decision making let them down in the early stages.

It started just after Penny’s opening score, with Harry Byrne failing to find the target with his conversion.

Byrne then cursed himself as a kick to touch failed to find any real distance, while Sean Cronin saw two lineouts pinched in quick succession.

Those lapses might have offered a different opponent a way into the contest, but a Zebre side that showed 15 changes from last week’s heavy defeat to Ulster – where the Italians registered just three points – looked desperately off the pace right from the off as kicks were skewed, passes flew astray and tackles failed to connect.

Jordan Larmour did well to negotiate his way through a sea of bodies following a strong driving maul to extend Leinster’s lead on 13 minutes, but Byrne again clipped his conversion high and wide. A frustrating afternoon for the young out-half came to end when a late shot to the hip from Iacopo Bianchi saw him limp off to be replaced by Johnny Sexton. 

johnny-sexton-with-jordan-larmour Johnny Sexton breaks forward. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Leinster ploughed on and continued to enjoy nearly all the play despite never quite clicking into gear, with the lively Ciarán Frawley at the heart of their most productive work going forward as Sexton’s influence brought some control to Leinster’s play.

Zebre missed an opportunity to get on the scoreboard when Antonio Rizzi saw a long-range penalty strike the lower left-hand post, and shortly after the 10,000 Leinster supporters in attendance got the moment they had all wanted to see. 

Adam Byrne, making his first apperance for the province since December 2019, had looked sharp in possession throughout but had yet to get any real sniff of the tryline before a smooth passing move allowed the returning wing to dot down in the right corner to end a stop-start opening period on a high as the afternoon sun began to stretch over the old stadium.

As the teams headed in for the break Leinster had enjoyed 70% of the possession and 69% of the territory, but should really have had more dominance on the scoreboard. 

They started the second half with the same intent as they had the first, taking just two minutes to find the bonus point try, with Ed Byrne crashing over from a couple of yards out. Sexton clipped the conversion and you got the sense the hosts were about to hit a different gear.

That’s exactly how it played out, and Cronin had try number five just three minutes later, touching down in the corner after Sexton had been denied just moments before, with the out-half adding an excellent conversion from the left touchline.

Zebre’s frustration began to show, and they soon lost Rizzi to a yellow card for a dangerous late tackle on Sexton.

With the next play, Sexton sent a pin-point crossfield kick into the arms of Adam Byrne, who had been afforded the freedom of the right wing to saunter in for his second try. 

Enjoying a 36-point cushion and with over 30 minutes still to play, Cullen turned to his bench. In came a new front row of Peter Dooley, Rónan Kelleher and Cian Healy to add some extra punch to the Leinster pack. 

ronan-kelleher-scores-a-try Rónan Kelleher scores a try. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

It was now a case of damage limitation for Zebre. 

Kelleher burst through a maul to provide try number seven, before Zebre broke from deep for a well-taken consolation try from Pierre Bruno.

The home side had opportunities to further twist the knife as a desperately one-sided affair petered out.

Leo Cullen had wanted to see a response from his players following that narrow win over the Dragons, and while the stats and scoreline would certainly suggest that he got that, the Leinster boss might well feel he learned more about his side in Newport that he did here. 

Leinster scorers:

Tries: Penny, Larmour, A Byrne (2), E Byrne, Cronin, Kelleher

Conversions: H Byrne [0/2], Sexton [4/5]

Zebre scorers:

Try: Bruno

Conversion: Pescetto [1/1]

Penalty: Rizzi [0/1]

LEINSTER: Jimmy O’Brien; Adam Byrne, Jamie Osborne, Ciarán Frawley (Rob Russell 46), Jordan Larmour; Harry Byrne (Johnny Sexton, 23), Luke McGrath (captain) (Nick McCarthy 56); Ed Byrne (Peter Dooley 51), Seán Cronin (Rónan Kelleher 51), Michael Ala’alatoa (Cian Healy51); Ryan Baird, Devin Toner; Dan Leavy (Max Deegan 51), Scott Penny (Ross Molony 71), Rhys Ruddock. 

ZEBRE: Jacopo Trulla; Pierre Bruno, Erich Cronje’, Enrico Lucchin, Mattia Bellini; Antonio Rizzi (Giovanni Licata 59), Nicolo’ Casilio (Guglielmo Palazzani 66); Andrea Lovotti (Danilo Fischetti 56), Oliviero Fabiani (captain) (Massimo Ceciliani), Ion Neculai (Matteo Nocera 56); Cristian Stoian (David Sisi 63), Andrea Zambonin; Iacopo Bianchi (Paolo Pescetto 54), Luca Andreani (Tommaso Boni 72), Renato Giammarioli.

Yellow card: Rizzi 47 

Referee: Sam Grove-White [SRU]  

Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey chat all things Connacht, Munster, Leinster and Ulster — and welcome back the AIL — on The42 Rugby Weekly


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