Connacht suffer nightmare at home against Leinster
MATCH REPORT: Leinster’s dominance of Connacht continued after they submitted their Irish rivals 50-5 in a one-sided romp in Galway.
A combined total of 25 players were missing because of the upcoming internationals and injury, and it was the champions who responded better to the absentees to climb to second in the United Rugby Championship.
Leinster’s 14th successive victory – they have not lost at Dexcom Stadium since 2018 – looked assured soon after the half-hour mark when Todd Lawlor crossed for their third try to build a 21-5 lead.
Max Deegan was the next over in a hard-fought third quarter to register the bonus point, but in the final 20 minutes they cut loose.
Joey Carbery, Ciaran Mangan and Fintan Gunne touched down to compound a miserable night for Connacht, who were beaten in every department in the final URC outing before the break for Test action.
It was an impressive show of depth from Leinster in a win that derails Connacht’s recent progress under their English head coach Stuart Lancaster.
The scorers:
For Connacht:
Try: Hefferman
For Leinster:
Tries: McCarthy, Larmour, Lawlor, Deegan, Carbery, Mangan, Gunne
Cons: Carbery 6
Pen: Carbery
Teams:
Connacht: 15 Josh Ioane, 14 Shayne Bolton, 13 John Devine, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Daniel Ryan, 10 Sean Naughton, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Paul Boyle (captain), 7 Will Connors, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 David O’Connor, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Francois van Wyk.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Victory, 17 Jerry Cahir, 18 Fiachna Barrett, 19 Niall Murray, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Finn Treacy, 23 Sam Gilbert.
Leinster: 15 Todd Lawlor, 14 Joshua Kenny, 13 Connor Fahy, 12 Charlie Tector, 11 Jordan Larmour, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Fintan Gunne, 8 James Culhane, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Max Deegan (captain), 5 Alan Spicer, 4 Brian Deeny, 3 Niall Smyth, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Alex Usanov.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Smyth, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Alex Mullan, 19 Conor O’Tighearnaigh, 20 Alex Soroka, 21 Cormac Foley, 22 Caspar Gabriel, 23 Ciarán Mangan.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Keane Davison (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
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