Leinster's first-half blitz too much for Kings

PRO14 REPORT: Leinster powered to a 38–31 victory against the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth.

Poor discipline from the South African side saw three players sent to the sin bin in the first half, as Leinster ran up five tries to earn a 33-12 lead at the break.

The Irish side secured the victory with two tries in the second period at the NMU Stadium but the Kings rallied late on with two tries of their own in the last ten minutes.

Strong carrying in the tight set up the South African side’s pack, who provided the platform for flyhalf Martin du Toit to grubber kick through after two minutes.

The bobbling kick evaded Leinster wing Adam Byrne, who failed to gather. It dribbled over the tryline and Southern Kings’ wing Yaw Penxe raced through and dived onto the ball to touch down to make it 5-0.

Byrne would redeem himself later in the first half with a try of his own after 15 minutes. It was a reverse of fortunes after Du Toit failed to gather a grubber kick through by Noel Reid.

After the ball escaped du Toit’s grasp it was gathered Rory O’Loughlin before he offloaded to Byrne, who powered over from ten metres out to tie the score.

Leinster’s forwards pummelled the tryline 23 minutes in and looked set to score after several phases. Hooker James Tracy seemed to have crossed the whitewash but the ball popped out of hands before he grounded the ball.

A resulting scrum due to a no-arms tackle by a Kings defender resulted in a penalty try when the home team’s pack was deemed to not have been driving straight, leaving Leinster up 12-5.

It got worse for the South African side as second-rower Stephan Greeff was deemed offside at a maul and given a yellow card.

The South African pack were put under more pressure at the resulting set-piece with loosehead Schalk Ferreira joining his teammate in the sinbin for collapsing the scrum.

Later in the half a Kings six-man scrum, with only a No.8 in the back row, managed to hold their own and avoid conceding the penalty.

Leinster scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park looked to break but his pass was intercepted by opposite number Stefan Ungerer. He raced through unopposed to put his side level against the run of play.

But Gibson-Park got his own score a few minutes later. Strong wing Joseph Tomane managed to hold his defender before flinging the ball infield with Gibson-Park the lucky recipient. He managed to scoop up the ball and dot down. Reid skilfully slotted a conversion from the left flank.

Dan Leavey added to Leinster’s lead with a try after Ed Byrne charged down a clearing kick.

Another member of the Kings’ pack was sent to the bin just before half-time. Flank Tienie Burger grabbed Leinster captain Scott Fardy as he was looking to chase a kick through, taking him.

The resulting penalty saw a sharp move off the back of the scrum with Max Deegan touching down under the posts, leaving Leinster 33-12 ahead at half time.

Ungerer showed his ability to be in the right place at the right time, as he registered another interception try after the break.

Poor handling by Deegan saw the ball run loose to the Kings’ scrumhalf, who doubled his try count after 42 minutes.

Leinster laid siege to the Southern King’s tryline as the half progressed. Wave after wave of attack was rewarded on 63 minutes as replacement hooker Bryan Byrne touched down.

The Kings pushed for a fourth score to try and get a bonus point with hard midfield running.

They were rewarded after 71 minutes when replacement Luphumlo Mguca dived over the line to make sure the home side took something from the game.

Just before the end replacement Kings’ back Berton Klaasen was sent to the bin, as his side matched their yellow cards with their tries scored.

Dries van Schalkwyk added another late try for the home side.

The scorers:

For Southern Kings:
Tries: Penxe, Ungerer 2, Mguca, Van Schalkwyk
Cons: Banda 3

For Leinster:
Tries: A Byrne, Penalty Try, Gibson-Park, Leavy, Deegan, B Byrne
Cons: Reid 3

Yellow cards: Stephan Greef (Kings, 25); Schalk Ferreira (29); Martinus Burger (Kings, 40); Berton Klaasen (Kings, 75)

Teams

Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Yaw Penxe, 10 Martin du Toit, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Stephan de Wit, 5 JC Astle (captain), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Justin Forwood, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Replacements: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Lupumlo Mguca, 18 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 19 Andries van Schalkwyk, 20 CJ Velleman, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Berton Klaasen, 22 Meli Rokoua

Leinster: 15 Dave Kearney; 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Conor O’Brien, 11 Joe Tomane; 10 Noel Reid, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park; 8 Max Deegan, 7 Dan Leavy, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Scott Fardy (Captain), 4 Ross Molony, 3 Michael Bent, 2 James Tracy, 1 Ed Byrne.
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Vakh Abdaladze, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan,22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Tom Daly.

Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Paul Mente (both South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)

@PRO14Official