Leinster complete a clean sweep for provinces
THERE was no World Cup hangover for Leinster’s returning Ireland stars as the province made an early statement in the URC with a seven-try hammering of the Scarlets at the RDS.
Andrew Porter, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Garry Ringrose, Jimmy O’Brien and Hugo Keenan were all back on provincial duty for the first time since the crushing quarter-final loss to the All Blacks a month ago, while Tadhg Furlong made his seasonal bow as a secondhalf replacement.
But Leinster’s international contingent quickly got back into the groove as Leo Cullen’s side cruised to a 54-5 win.
Sam Prendergast, O’Brien, Ringrose and replacement prop Jack Boyle all crossed for tries, while impressive young centre Jamie Osborne and backrower Max Deegan both helped themselves to a brace.
Meanwhile, Munster head coach Graham Rowntree hailed his side for scraping out a hard-fought 10-3 victory against the Stormers at a rain-sodden Thomond Park.
Academy lock Edwin Edogbo’s second try in five starts proved crucial in a game which saw the international trio of Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne and Conor Murray all returned to action in what was a repeat of last May’s United Rugby Championship final.
However, the poor weather conditions made for a cagey, defence-dominated contest, with Edogbo’s try just before halftime punishing a yellow card for Stormers captain Neethling Fouche.
Jack Crowley converted, adding to his earlier penalty, for a 10-0 lead and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s 45th-minute penalty proved to be the South Africans’ only score.
And Rowntree hailed the tenacity of his side after a dogged win on their home turf. ‘We scrapped it out, didn’t we?’ he said. ‘We’ve a few injuries to assess as well. We lost Pete (O’Mahony) at half-time, Jack O’Donoghue — did you see him get back into the defensive line? He’s done something bad to his knee (ankle) but he jumps back into the defensive line to make a tackle, it’s incredible that, from Jack.
‘But back to the game, at 50 minutes we should have scored, it would have taken us to 17-3 but no, we’re back on our own goal-line, fighting for our lives.
‘They kept going for the scrum, I’m proud of Josh Wycherley, he dug in there. We knew they’d have some scrum power — their last two defeats, they’ve been on top in the scrum. So we knew they’d have power there, so we stuck in there.’
Elsewhere, out-half JJ Hanrahan’s secondhalf penalty edged Connacht to a 13-12 United Rugby Championship victory over the Sharks in Durban.
After away losses against Munster, Leinster, Ospreys and Zebre, rock-bottom Sharks slumped to a fifth successive league defeat.
Connacht made it four wins from five and consolidated a place among the competition’s early-season movers and shakers.
Connacht led by five points at half-time following an early Sean O’Brien try that Hanrahan converted while Hanrahan also landed a penalty following Sharks number eight Sikhumbuzo Notshe’s touchdown.
Sharks improved after the break, going ahead through wing Werner Kok’s touchdown that Curwin Bosch converted, but Hanrahan had the final say and Connacht could celebrate a statement away win.