Hibbard: We must show pride at Saints
RICHARD Hibbard believes the only tonic to heal from the hurt of their Leinster hammering is to somehow beat Northampton Saints in their own backyard.
Leinster left their stars at home but racked up nine tries as Ross Byrne orchestrated the victory with a near faultless performance.
The outside-half set up two scores for Dave Kearney and one for full-back Hugo Keenan as Leinster earned a commanding lead at half-time thanks to scores from Scott Penny and Scott Fardy.
Kearney wrapped up the bonus-point three minutes into the second-half.
Caelen Doris, Hugo Keenan, Bryan Byrne and Jimmy O’Brien completed the rout to make it six wins in-a-row against the Welsh region.
“The challenge doesn’t get much bigger than Northampton and Clermont, but I think that’s great and it’s straight back on the horse,” said hooker Hibbard. “It’s exactly what the boys need – when you get a drumming like that at home it hurts your pride.
“There is no better chance than going out to Northampton at their place to show some heart and pride.
“We’ve got to pull ourselves together and dust ourselves off, because that wasn’t us.”
Leinster ensured it would be a night of pain infront of the television for Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman, who was serving the final game of his WRU ban. Jason Tovey was punished for a misplaced pass when Ross Byrne floated a perfectly weighted cross-kick into the hands of Dave Kearney for a simple run in at the corner.
Penny had a try ruled out for a knock-on after he burrowed over, but play was brought back and Lewis Evans was sinbinned for a cynical offence to allow the back-rower to get on the scoresheet moments later.
Jamison Gibson-Park then engineered a third when he lifted a sumptuous pass over Rynard Landman’s head and into the hands of Fardy, who waltzed over.
Caelen Doris had a try ruled out, but Leinster headed in at half-time with a commanding 19-3 lead.
The second-half began exactly how the first started as Byrne used his boot to pick out Kearney for his second and the crucial bonus-point score before Rhodri Williams finally got the Dragons over the tryline.
But normal service was resumed when Doris crashed over from close range for an easy seven point score.
Byrne’s brilliance came to the fore again when he
dabbed a perfectly weighted grubber through for Keenan to score Leinster’s sixth.
It wasn’t long until replacement hooker Byrne got in on the act to power over from close range, before Paddy Patterson marked his senior debut with a cut-out pass over the top of the defence to give O’Brien an easy try at the corner.
There was still time for the outside centre to complete a late brace as he finished well at the corner to compete the 59-10 triumph.
“It was a good performance but there was definitely things we can improve on for next week,” said Leinster coach Cullen. “Some of the individual performances have given us some tough decisions to make but that’s what we want.”