Boss ‘won’t crucify’ wing over dive debacle

WASPS director of rugby Dai Young insisted he had no intention of blaming Willie Le Roux f or their European Champions Cup quarterfinal loss to Leinster following an extraordinary blunder.

The English Premiership leaders were 8-0 down to Leinster at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road when South Africa international Le Roux was sent clear of the home side’s defence following a clever piece of play from Australia’s Kurtley Beale.

With no Leinster defender near him, Le Roux opted for a f lamboyant dive over the line only to lose the ball in mid-air and have what seemed a cert a i n t r y d i s a l lowed for a k nock-on.

Leinster, the Irish province who have been champions of Europe three times, scored three first-half tries.

A lt houg h Wa sps f oug ht back a f ter t he brea k, it was the Celtic League pacesetters who t riumphed 32-17 to set up a semi f i na l aga i nst t he w i n ners of yesterday ’s a l lFrench clash bet ween Clermont and Toulon.

Yet the whole course of the match might have been different had left wing Le Roux’s extravagant gesture not gone so spectacularly wrong.

Half-time apology

“I don’t think any coach is going to sit here and crucify his own players,” said Young.

“He apologised to the coaches and the players at half-time. What more is there to say?” the former Wales and British and Irish Lions front row added.

“I’m not saying it was a turning factor – we had 55 minutes to turn it around.”

For Leinster, 21-year-old Joey Carbery, playing at fullback in place of injured veteran Ireland international Rob Kearney, had a superb match.

Having proven he can swim when dropped into the deep end when making his Ireland debut at fly-half against New Zealand last November ,Carber y ’s qui c k f e e t l i t up Lansdowne Road as he helped create two of Leinster’s tries and carried for more than 200 metres in the match.

“He’s very, very brave. He’s not afraid to try things,” said Leinster coach Leo Cullen. “We will have a look back at the game and go through it with him. He’s hungry to learn and he wants to get better.

“I’m delighted for him today, it was a good performance; 21 years of age – it has come very quickly but he is definitely a talent.”

There was more Irish delight when Munster beat record four-time European champions Toulouse 41-16 in Saturday’s other quarterfinal.

Munster, themselves twot i me for mer champions of Europe, will face either titleholders Saracens or Glasgow, who were to play each other yesterday, in the semifinals.

At their Thomond Park fort re s s, Munster outscored French giants Toulouse by four tries to one.

And when Paul Perez’s try cut their lead to 24-16, Munster responded by scoring 17 unanswered points.