Leinster too strong for Blues
Holders Leinster Rugby laid down a marker as they cruised into the Heineken Cup last four once again with a hugely impressive 34-3 victory over the Cardiff Blues at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
If anyone was looking for a statement of intent from last season’s champions in front of 50,340 spectators this was it. They weren’t perfect for the entire 80 minutes, and even though they now face an away semifinal against either Saracens or Clermont Auvergne, they appear to the team to beat as the tournament nears its business end.
Leinster play with the sort of imagination that gives the opposition a chance to pick them off, however, shorn of their injured talisman, Jamie Roberts and Sam Warburton, Cardiff lacked the class on the day to make a serious contest of it as the winners ran in four tries.
The good news for Joe Schmidt’s side is that Brian O’Driscoll is looking razor sharp following his long lay-off and New Zealand World Cup-winner, Brad Thorn, is beginning to settle into the Nathan Hines’ enforcer role which helped Leinster to the title last year.
Although Cardiff started brightly and had the first points on the board through a Leigh Halfpenny penalty from near halfway, it didn’t take Leinster too long to get into their stride. A prolonged attack eventually led to Jonny Sexton splitting the Blues’ defence with a perfect dummy, and Rob Kearney supplied the scoring pass to Isa Nacewa when Jamie Heaslip on the fullback’s inside could also easily have scored.
Earlier, Sexton had kicked a penalty and he added the extras to put the home side 10-3 in front after 12 minutes. Apart from that sweeping move that produced the try for Nacewa, Leinster were uncharacteristically subdued in the first quarter and Sexton added to a slight feeling unease when he badly hooked a penalty attempt from the 35 metres and straight in front of the posts.
Still, there was no doubt which team was dominant despite the best efforts of Halfpenny and Casey Laulala, and Sexton’s radar was soon back in working order as the out-half landed his second penalty. Worringly for Cardiff, their scrum was beginning to creak badly as the interval approached and as Leinster started to come on strong with Cian Healy particularly prominent, the absence of Warburton and Roberts was surely felt.
It was really no surprise when an O’Driscoll offload put Eoin Reddan clear into the 22 and from the resulting recycle, Kearney scored much too easily for comfort. That dent in Cardiff’s confidence was quickly followed by a superbly-timed Luke Fitzgerald intervention and pass which put O’Driscoll in under the posts. Sexton was on target with both conversions and the visitors were looking down a barrel at 27-3.
It wasn’t as if last season’s Heineken Cup champions were firing on all cylinders, but they were precise and efficient in the closing stages of the half, and those 14 points that Cardiff conceded in the space of five minutes looked to have put paid to their chances.
If the Blues were looking for some respite after the interval, they found that Leinster weren’t in a generous mood. Yet another relentless attack with accurate offloads and quick recycling ended with Kearney strolling over for his second try and the winners fourth. Sexton converted via a post, and the 34-4 scoreline on the Aviva Stadium’s big screen made for miserable viewing for Cardiff.
Schmidt began to ring the changes as Shane Jennings and then Sean Cronin were brought on after just 10 minutes of the second half and although Cardiff could never have been accused of playing like they had accepted the inevitable, they clearly struggled to prise open the home defence.
They did engineer a great chance when Martyn Williams lunged for the line only for the ball to slip agonisingly out of the veteran flank’s grip. It was that sort of evening for the Blues and after their one prolonged spell of pressure, Sean O’Brien lifted the siege with a 50-metre lung-busting breakout.
By now Leinster had done more than enough as a host of replacements on both sides meant the game began to lose some of its shape. A semi-final beckons for the champions and even though they will be on the road on Sunday, 29 April, few would bet against them going the distance.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Nacewa, Kearney 2, O’Driscoll
Cons: Sexton 4
Pens: Sexton 2
For Cardiff Blues:
Pen: Halfpenny
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Isa Nacewa, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Brad Thorn, 4 Leo Cullen (captain), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Nathan White, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Fergus McFadden.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Tom James, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Xavier Rush (captain), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 James Down, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Marc Breeze, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 John Yapp, 18 Sam Hobbs, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Maama Molitika, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Gavin Evans.
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
