Leinster prove they can also tough it out

Glasgow 16 Leinster 23: UNLIKE THEIR performance last time out against Bath, this performance from the European champions wouldn't have had the other main contenders quaking in their boots, but more often than not you have to win a little uglier on the road.

This was far from a vintage Leinster performance, littered as it was with errors in the opening quarter and, largely eschewing kicks on such an incredibly tight pitch, both narrow and with tiny in-goal areas and lacking depth, they struggled to impose their running game against Glasgow’s hard-edged, aggressive defence.

But their own defence was again excellent and their work in the contact zone, especially in the second half, and at the breakdown, was ultimately the difference.

As expected, Leinster possessed the greater array of ball-carriers, notably man-of-the-match Seán Cronin and Cian Healy, and all the way through the side.

Having opted for his attacking “home” selection, coach Joe Schmidt also benefited far more from the impact of his replacements, particularly Isaac Boss, and also Heinke van der Merwe, Eoin O’Malley and, at the death, Damien Browne.

Although operating pretty much on one leg from the half-hour mark, Jonathan Sexton varied his game nicely, and took the ball to the gain line to unleash his runners.

Ed Kalam, Al Kellock and John Barclay had big games and there was also good shape and depth to Glasgow’s running game, but there were also a fair few handling errors and a lack of real penetration. And for all the straight running, there was a comparative lack of footwork in the contact area.

For all Leinster’s willingness to keep the ball in hand and scoff at the notion of territory, their best moment of the first half came from receiving the kick-off, when Sexton dummied inside two players and had the pace to break clear up to half-way and kick ahead for Jamie Heaslip to tackle Rory Lamont into touch.

Alas, setting the tone of the first half much more, the ensuing lineout malfunctioned. And so it continued. O’Brien knocked on, Rob Kearney played Duncan Weir’s touchfinder while in play to concede the throw and Mike Ross was pinged at the first scrum for Weir to open the scoring.

The two times in the opening half Sexton put boot to ball was for successive crosskicks to Isa Nacewa, or as the PA announcer put it, “Eye-sa Na-kewa”, on the left wing and Dave Kearney on the right, but the second was fractionally over-cooked when on the vast majority of pitches it would have been on the money.

Thereafter, the only variation from the running game – no matter the position on the pitch – was some box-kicking by Eoin Reddan, and it has to be said he’s executed them better.

Nevertheless, Leinster began gaining ascendancy, largely through their superior work at the breakdown where Seán O’Brien and Leo Cullen engineered a couple of turnovers and though Sexton pushed a difficult enough 45-metre penalty, he soon levelled matters from just inside half-way after Rob Harley compounded his knock on by not rolling away.

However, a poor box-kick by Reddan led to multiple Glasgow phases and a Weir penalty for hands in a ruck, before Leinster cranked things up with a 20-plus phased attack off an O’Brien lineout take on half-way, with big rumbles by Healy and Cronin, who was held up short of the line when there might have been a case to use the TMO.

A lapse of concentration cost Leinster the five-metre scrum before another multi-phase attack culminated in Fergus McFadden drawing the sides level again with the last kick of the half; for by then Sexton was hobbling heavily.

In a striking contrast from the first half Sexton kicked toward the corners four times in the opening six minutes, and one of those was an excellently weighted cross kick from which Rob Kearney beat Stuart Hogg to the bouncing ball for a try which McFadden converted.

Fortunate to a degree, but you have to be attacking and trying things in the first place to capitalise, and you had to give credit to Kearney for his determination and opportunism.

Weir and McFadden exchanged penalties before Glasgow opted for the corner when the Leinster scrum was penalised. They were rewarded too, after the initial drives were repulsed, when replacement scrumhalf Colin Gregor scored by the blindside corner flag from Colin Shaw’s offload, and Weir landed the touchline conversion to level matters for a third time.

Boss had no real hope of stopping Gregor, but soon was making his presence felt. John Beattie, whose impact was by contrast negligible and even negative, carried the ball into contact, but Heaslip made a strong tackle on his terms and O’Brien won the turnover.

Having gone wide to the right, another replacement, Heinke van der Merwe, made a strong carry and from the recycle Boss had the strength to squirm over under the posts.

Leinster still had to thank the defence for the win, Hogg possibly butchering a try with two men outside and O’Brien being binned for not rolling away before Boss brilliantly nabbed Beattie off the base of a second five-metre scrum to earn the relieving penalty when Beattie played on.

Leinster safely ran the clock down from there as their supporters could be heard more clearly than at any time before.

Scoring sequence: 6 mins: Weir pen 3-0; 28: Sexton pen 3-3; 32: Weir pen 6-3; 40 (+1) mins McFadden pen 6-6; (half-time 6-6); 43: Kearney try, McFadden con 6-13; 50: Weir pen 9-13; 56: McFadden pen 9-16; 62: Gregor try, Weir con 16-16; 69: Boss try, McFadden con 16-23.

GLASGOW WARRIORS: R Lamont; T Seymour, S Hogg, G Morrison, C Shaw; D Weir, C Cusiter; J Welsh, P MacArthur, E Kalman, R Gray, A Kellock (capt), R Harley, C Fusaro, J Barclay. Replacements: T Ryder for Kellock (32-40 mins), D Hall for MacArthur (56 mins), C Gregor for Cusiter (58 mins), J Beattie for Barclay (61 mins), T Nathan for Shaw (67 mins), G Reid for Kalman (70 mins), S Wight for Weir (74 mins). Not used: R Grant.

LEINSTER:R Kearney; D Kearney, F McFadden, G DArcy, I Nacewa; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, S Cronin, M Ross, L Cullen (capt), D Toner, S O'Brien, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: R Ruddock for Jennings, I Boss for Reddan (both 58 mins), H van der Merwe for Healy (64 mins), E OMalley for D Kearney (both 64 mins), N White for Ross (66 mins), D Browne for Cullen (74 mins). Not used: A Dundon, I Madigan. Sinbinned: O'Brien (76 mins).

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)