Leinster young guns provide hope for Cullen
Madigan f inds his range to end Bath’s interest in Europe
LEINSTER knocked Bath out of contention for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals with an encouraging 25-11 victory at the RDS.
Ian Madigan finished with a 20point haul, but it was Leo Cullen’s young guns who got the best out of the province with eight of their starting line-up aged between 20 and 24.
Madigan landed four penalties from five attempts to give Leinster a 12-3 interval lead, with James Tracy, Josh van der Flier and Mike McCarthy starring up front.
Despite Leroy Houston’s 59thminute try giving them renewed hope, Bath were out of sorts and very much second best on the night. Leinster lifted their game again in the Dublin rain, an opportunist try from Sean Cronin and a sixth successful Madigan penalty sealing their first pool win of the season.
A break from the excellent Ben Te’o, who linked neatly with Zane Kirchner, set up Madigan’s first penalty in the eighth minute - just reward for a sprightly Leinster start.
The home forwards, including manof-the-match Ross Molony in the second row, took hold of the game while playing at a relentless pace, engineering a couple of try-scoring opportunities with lively hooker Tracy held up just short.
Madigan sent a right-sided penalty wide soon after and the Bath pack on a rare attack - drove forward to set up a well-struck 29th-minute leveller from Ford.
Leinster restored their lead six minutes before the break, Madigan splitting the posts following a lineout infringement, and some more incisive running from centres Te’o and Garry Ringrose kept the hosts humming along.
Bath lock Dominic Day’s slow retreat earned him a yellow card and Madigan mopped up with three more points. Fourteen-man Bath were then denied a certain try by the retreating Dave Kearney, who did really well to reach Jonathan Joseph’s kick through alongside a lunging Houston.
Kearney was high-tackled by Anthony Watson on the stroke of half-time, allowing Madigan to curl over his best kick of the night from wide on the left.
Bath continued to struggle in attack and it took their reinforced scrum to get them into scoring range. They were clinical from a close-in penalty on the hour, number eight Houston muscling over off a lineout drive.
Ford could not convert and after Bath mishandled the restart, Cronin gobbled up possession to launch a set of attacking phases. It was the replacement hooker who eventually scored.
Madigan’s conversion was followed by a Ford penalty, with Te’o fortunate to avoid yellow for lifting Joseph in a tackle. Leinster continued to look the more likely and Madigan’s 76thminute penalty sealed Bath’s fate, leaving Wasps and Toulon to battle it out for Pool 5 honours. Leinster: Zane Kirchner (N Reid 68); Isa Nacewa (J Sexton 75), Garry Ringrose, Ben Te’o, Dave Kearney; Ian Madigan, Luke McGrath (E Reddan 67); Peter Dooley (J McGrath 47), James Tracy (S Cronin 47), Tadhg Furlong (M Moore 47), Ross Molony, Mike McCarthy (T Denton 47), Rhys Ruddock, Josh Van Der Flier, Jordi Murphy (S O’Brien 60). scorers: – Cronin; Pens – Madigan (6); Con – Madgian Bath: Anthony Watson (T Homer 65); Semesa Rokoduguni, Jonathan Joseph, Kyle Eastmond, Matt Banahan; George Ford (R Priestland 67), Chris Cook (J Evans 67); Max Lahiff (N Auterac 51), Rob Webber (R Batty 31-37, HT), David Wilson (H Thomas HT), Stuart Hooper, Dom Day (C Ewels 54), Matt Garvey, Francois Louw (D Denton HT), Leroy Houston. scorers: Try – Houston; Pens - Ford, Priestland REFEREE: P Gauzere (France).