Leinster stutter before beating Leicester in Champions Cup
MATCH REPORT: Four-times champions Leinster sputtered at Leicester on Friday before pulling ahead in the dying minutes to open Round Two of the Champions Cup group stage with a 23-15 win in Pool Three.
Leinster had opened the competition at home by crushing Londoners Harlequins, while Leicester were overpowered at La Rochelle.
The Irish province dominated territory from the start, but made repeated handling errors in the face of a tigerish home defence.
Leinster’s carelessness with the ball also presented the home team with the only two tries of the first half.
Adam Radwan pounced on a Leinster drop after 20 minutes to hare away, dribbling the ball before diving to touch down.
The other Leicester wing Ollie Hassell-Collins also showed his footballing skills chasing his own kick ahead and pouncing when the Leinster defence could not gather the ball.
Harry Byrne kicked two first-half penalties for the visitors to one by Billy Searle for the hosts.
Searle also missed a conversion and, with Leicester 15-6 ahead, then missed an early penalty in the second half.
Ireland scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park responded by scampering through some ineffective tackles to score. Byrne converted to close the gap to one point.
Leinster pressed and Byrne kicked a 60th-minute penalty to put them ahead by a point.
With eight minutes left, Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan, a second-half replacement, crashed over after a line-out and Ireland flyhalf Sam Prendergast, who had come on in the 61st minute, converted to seal the win.
The scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Radwan, Hassell-Collins
Con: Searle
Pen: Searle
For Leinster:
Tries: Gibson-Park, Sheehan
Cons: Byrne, Prendergast
Pens: Byrne 3
Teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Tom Whiteley, 8 Joaquin Moro, 7 Tommy Reffell (captain), 6 James Thompson, 5 Harry Wells, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Finn Theobald Thomas, 17 Archie van der Flier, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Tom Manz, 20 Sam Williams, 21 Ollie Allan, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Joseph Woodward.
Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Paddy McCarthy.
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Ciarán Frawley.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baque (France), Julien Caulier (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)
