Leinster storm into Euro Cup final

Bulls catch Rebels napping, Crusaders, Chiefs win

DUBLIN, April 21, (AFP): Australia’s Scott Fardy was at the heart of a dominant Leinster display as the three-times champions stormed into the European Cup final with a 38-16 victory over the Scarlets at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

In what was effectively a ‘home’ game for the Dublin-based province, they outscored their Welsh opponents by five tries to one, with former Wallaby back-row Fardy one of their scorers.

Johnny Sexton, the fly-half mastermind behind Ireland’s Six Nations Grand Slam this season, also scored a try and kicked a further 13 points into the bargain.

It seemed all the Scarlets would have to show for their efforts were a trio of Leigh Halfpenny penalties until former Leinster man Tadhg Beirne crossed for a 79th-minute try that was precious little consolation to the Llanelli-based side.

Next month’s final in Bilbao could be an All-Ireland affair if Munster win away to Paris club Racing 92 in Sunday’s second semifinal.

Halfpenny opened the scoring following a high tackle by Fardy but from then on it was largely one-way traffic.

Wayne Pivac’s side spoke of traveling to Dublin with no fear, full of confidence from the win they enjoyed over the same opponents 12 months ago in the Pro12 semifinal.

But they were simply overpowered and outpaced by a relentless Leinster side, who scored the first try of the game in the 10th minute and never let up until the break.

Leo Cullen’s game-plan was uncomplicated but highly effective: attack hard with one-off runners, hammer the opposition at the breakdown and quickly repeat.

Fardy’s block on Gareth Davies’ kick brought Leinster into the Scarlets 22 and the swarming blue shirts forced a lineout from which the first try came.

It was a wonderful set-piece move, begun and ended by James Ryan — with Jamison Gibson-Park, Sexton, Isa Nacewa, Rob Kearney and Fergus McFadden all involved.

Sexton and Halfpenny swapped penalties as both sides made unforced errors, but it was when Leinster moved into their opponents’ 22 that the real damage was done.

Their forwards pounded away and, as they kept hold of the ball with confidence and precision, it was merely a question of who would score, with Ireland’s Cian Healy going over from close range before Sexton converted.

Scarlets enjoyed a few minutes on the front foot, from which they mined one penalty, but they could not stop Leinster scoring another try that left them 24-9 up at half-time. Again the pack were key and, after sucking in the Scarlets’ defence Garry Ringrose flung the ball wide for McFadden to race home.

Within 10 minutes of the restart, Leinster were four scores in front and all but out of sight.

Jordan Larmour, on at the break for McFadden, ripped the ball from Rhys Patchell and three phases later Ryan and Fardy combined to send the blindside flanker, who won the last of his 29 caps two years ago, over for Leinster’s fourth try. Sexton, who had been imperious throughout, got the try his display deserved on the hour mark.

The jubilant No 10 was withdrawn after his conversion to a massive ovation, a sign of how superior the Irish side were feeling.

Both sides began to dip further into their benches, but whoever came on in Scarlets’ red made little difference.

Beirne — a former Leinster academy player — crossed the line with seconds to go, but it was far too little, too late for the Scarlets.

Meanwhile, quick-thinking Northern Bulls scrum-half Adrian Warner sealed a bonus-point Super Rugby victory over Melbourne Rebels Saturday while Canterbury Crusaders and Waikato Chiefs won convincingly.

A tap penalty by substitute Warner eight minutes from time caught Rebels napping in Pretoria and he scored to wrap up a 28-10 win, the third in a row by the South Africans.

Crusaders overcame a spirited Sunwolves side and stormy weather to triumph 33-11 in Christchurch and Chiefs secured a bonus point deep in stoppage time as they beat Queensland Reds 36-12 in Brisbane. Tries by Adriaan Strauss, Jesse Kriel and Divan Rossouw gave Bulls a 21-3 half-time lead before the revitalised Rebels scored through Michael Ruru to leave 11 points between the teams on 47 minutes.

However, the Australians suffered a third straight defeat after failing to translate territorial and possession dominance during the third quarter into further scores.

Rebels and Bulls remained seventh and eighth respectively in the combined standings, with the result closing the gap between them to two points.

Crusaders, with their bonus point sealed by three late tries, moved to the

top of the New Zealand conference, replacing the Wellington Hurricanes, who had a bye.

It was a hard-fought win as the bottom-placed Sunwolves, who conceded 50 points to the Crusaders a year ago, played above themselves and held the defending champions to 14-11 until 15 minutes into the second half.

But once Ryan Crotty scored his second try to stretch the lead to 21-11, the Crusaders moved up a gear and were in charge during the final quarter.

There were six tries scored, five to the Crusaders, in a match that for much of the time was an arm wrestle as periods of thunder, lightning, torrential rain and occasional hail restricted efforts to produce a free-flowing game.

“It made it slippery, especially when the hail came down, and it probably took us too long to adjust,” captain Matt Todd said of the unconvincing Crusaders performance. “They made us work for every point we got. We had to defend our line at times, and then we built some phases to get some points late, which was pleasing.”

The Chiefs led the Reds 31-0 just after half-time but two Samu Kerevi tries meant they needed a Samisoni Taukei’aho try in the fifth minute of stoppage time to secure a bonus point.

It was the 35th straight win by New Zealand teams over Australian opposition and leaves the Reds in fourth spot in the Australian conference.

Chiefs lost fly-half dynamo Damian McKenzie with a head knock midway through the first half, but were always in command, scoring five tries to two.

“We were really stoked to get that bonus point right there at the end, but it was very tough. It would have been nice to kick on after that first 25 minutes,” Chiefs skipper Sam Kane said.

Veteran open-side flanker George Smith made his first appearance of the season for the Reds as a substitute after December back surgery.