Referee red-faced as Healy escapes and Exeter suffer
LEINSTER were given a helping hand by French referee Pascal Gauzere as they came from behind to overcome Exeter and move a step closer to the European Champions Cup quarter-finals.
Cian Healy was spared a red card for smashing Exeter’s Luke Cowan-Dickie in the face with his forearm after 17 minutes, before Luke McGrath scored the winning try despite a forward pass by Dan Leavy.
Exeter had cut Leinster to pieces in the first half — capitalising on Johnny Sexton’s third-minute withdrawal — but suffered a 19-point swing to wound their cup hopes.
They must now beat Montpellier and Glasgow to give themselves an outside shot at reaching the quarter-finals, although director of rugby Rob Baxter refused to be drawn on the questionable decisions that denied them victory.
‘There’s still a fighting chance for us to go through as a best placed runner-up,’ said Baxter.
‘We’ve got a couple of games left yet and we’ll go flat out. We’ve qualified before from more extraordinary circumstances than this.’
There are large parts of this performance for the Chiefs to carry through the winter months.
Matt Kvesic produced one of his best displays for years at the collision area, while Sam Skinner topped the tackle count and scored the first try from close range after three minutes.
It was the antithesis of Exeter’s defeat at home to Leinster last weekend, with the Chiefs dominating possession and winning the aerial battle through winger Olly Woodburn.
Tomas Francis shored up the scrum at tighthead and CowanDickie, his front-row partner, took one for the team when he felt the force of Healy’s forearm in the early blows.
‘No force, no speed,’ said Gauzere, even though Healy’s momentum took him off his feet.
Exeter continued to build — with Henry Slade organising smart patterns in midfield — and were leading 17-3 when Cowan-Dickie touched down off the back of a driving lineout after 31 minutes.
They were on course to end a run of eight consecutive defeats for English clubs in Europe, but found themselves unpicked by 6ft 10in Devin Toner at the lineout and foul of the penalty count.
Despite losing Scott Fardy to the sin bin, the hosts chipped away at the scoreboard through the boot of Isa Nacewa, before their second-half replacements stepped up the intensity levels.
‘It was close to international quality,’ said Baxter. ‘We’ll be frustrated that, under that pressure, some of our weaknesses got exposed.
‘On Monday, we need to take a deep breath and draw a line under the Champions Cup and move forward. The age range of the squad says to me that the guys should get better from today.
‘Players’ weaknesses often get highlighted at international level — they make mistakes they wouldn’t in normal club games. Leinster kept their nerve and we made one or two of those mistakes.’
Lock Jonny Hill conceded a cheap penalty for flying off his feet at the ruck, before Jack Nowell — on his first start in 10 weeks — sliced a clearance kick to gift Leinster a dangerous attacking throw. Overlooked by the officials, Nacewa in fact touched the ball, but Leinster nonetheless left with three points.
Then Leavy and McGrath combined off the back of the lineout. Leavy, impressive from the bench, offloaded to McGrath, who was stood in front of him, and the No 9 sprinted clear to score.
It was the perfect early Christmas present for the Irish — leaving them full of festive cheer.