Leinster makes it 10 on the trot

MATCH REPORT: United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster made it 10 wins from 10 in all competitions, but had to work hard for a 20-12 victory over Connacht at Lansdowne Road Stadium.

Tries from Andrew Osborne and Charlie Tector gave Leinster a 14-0 half-time lead, although they should have made more of a yellow card for Connacht centre Shane Jennings.

After watching Ross Byrne kick a penalty, Connacht capitalised on Lee Barron’s sin-binning to make it a five-point game, with Oisin Dowling and Jennings both crossing.

Mack Hansen was growing in influence for the Westerners, yet a scrappy final 20 minutes ended with Leinster flyhalf Byrne clinching the result with a 79th-minute penalty.

With 13 changes from last week, Leo Cullen’s men applied early pressure. Connacht dug in defensively with Bundee Aki and Jennings coming up with crucial plays.

Nineteen minutes in, Byrne used a zippy move off what was a mostly unreliable Leinster line-out to send Osborne racing over. Byrne converted.

Jennings then saw yellow for a late tackle on Luke McGrath and Connacht’s midfield was opened up again. Barrett neatly slipped Tector through to score, with Byrne converting.

Connacht briefly gained momentum through the running of Paul Boyle and Josh Ioane, until the latter had to come off injured.

Darragh Murray’s ability to steal Leinster’s line-out ball was a big positive for the visitors, along with Shamus Hurley-Langton’s turnover wins.

Playing into the wind on the restart, Byrne pushed the margin out to 17 points but Connacht responded well.

Leinster’s repeated penalties landed replacement Barron in the sin bin in the 51st minute, and the resulting tap penalty led to Dowling burrowing over.

Hurley-Langton and Hansen provided further spark, and with Leinster increasingly narrow in defence, Jennings was sent in behind the posts. Forde’s conversion closed the gap to 17-12.

Connacht captain Cian Prendergast did brilliantly to hold up Barron, denying him a certain try on the 70-minute mark.

Jimmy O’Brien was then binned for taking Hansen out in the air to give the visitors hope, but it was Byrne who had the final say for the table toppers.
Related

The scorers

For Leinster
Tries: Osborne, Tector
Cons: R Byrne 2
Pens: R Byrne 2

For Connacht
Tries: Dowling, Jennings
Con: Forde

Yellow cards: Shane Jennings (Connacht, 25), Lee Barron (Leinster, 51)

Teams

Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Aitzol Arenzana-King, 13 Charlie Tector, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Andrew Osborne, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan (captain), 7 Scott Penny, 6 Alex Soroka, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Diarmuid Mangan, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Jack Boyle.
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Cian Healy, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Max Deegan.

Connacht: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Cathal Forde, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Shane Jennings, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Santiago Cordero, 23 Conor Oliver.

Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Peter Martin (Ireland), Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)