Champions Cup Pool 4: Leinster 37 Sale 27
Leinster will take the victory but not the performance that was substandard for large swatches of this Champions Cup pool match before a capacity crowd of 18,600 at the RDS. On a perfect night for rugby there was little to excuse the home side’s poor game management, handling errors and ill discipline that undermined their patterns.
Sale deserve credit for the manner in which they took the game to Leinster initially and also for arguably some of the game’s most inventive attacking moments. Two late tries for the visitors offered a painful reminder to Leinster of the performance aberrations.
An injury to replacement Charlie Ngatai, outstanding in all he did when coming on early in the second half, will be a concern. Leinster trailed 13-11 at half-time and while the second half was a better effort individually and collectively, it was still pockmarked by mistakes and a weak finish to the contest.
The tone and content of Leinster’s display in the opening 40 minutes was set from the kick-off, Rob Du Preez’s kick allowed to bounce around in the home side’s 22 before Jamison Gibson-Park was able to put boot to ball.
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[ Leinster 37 Sale Sharks 27: As it happenedOpens in new window ]
Leinster were distracted and careless, making elementary mistakes, handling errors, poorly co-ordinated in defence and lacking shape and cohesion in attack. It should not detract from Sale Sharks’ efforts, bright and lively in their patterns in possession and benefiting from sharp analysis to expose weaknesses, out wide and memorably for their try with a beautifully judged grubber kick.
The English club hadn’t read the notices that decried the fact they hadn’t travelled with some of their marquee names. Those that deputised did just fine.
Left wing Aaron Reid got outside the Leinster defence in the opening two minutes and then the ball was recycled inside the Leinster 22, the home side appeared to foil what would have been Connor Doherty’s scoring pass to fullback Telusa Veainu.
They did so illegally though, Robbie Henshaw penalised for an early grab on the hand of the Sale fullback following the intervention of television match official Denis Grenouillet. The Leinster centre received a yellow card and Rob du Preez kicked the penalty to push Sale out to a 3-0 lead.
Leinster thought they had responded with a try on eight minutes when Josh van der Flier burrowed over the visitors’ line. But the TMO again intervened, calling attention to the fact that Ryan Baird had lost the ball in contact, and then from another penalty opportunity the blindside flanker was held up over the line.
Ciarán Frawley kicked a penalty, but Leinster could not override the sloppiness that dogged their patterns, a knock-on here, a crooked throw there. It was Sale who were to provide the half’s first genuine moment of artistry.
Scrumhalf Raffi Quirke produced a beautifully weighted grubber in behind the Leinster defensive line, Rob du Preez gathered and then fed Connor Doherty, who raced over from 35 metres, the outhalf adding the conversion.
The visitors weren’t flattered by their 13-3 lead, but Leinster didn’t have to look very far for the source of their woes, many self-inflicted and no one was immune. Frawley kicked out on the full, punted straight to Quirke and then knocked on a high ball under minimal pressure. Hugo Keenan marked a high ball but then smothered his clearance kick.
The home side looked to have butchered another try-scoring chance when Gibson-Park fired a long pass to Baird, but he had to take it on the bounce and his offload to Jordan Larmour went to ground. Quirke tackled the Leinster wing by the neck and the home side were given another chance, kicking the penalty to the corner.
Baird won the lineout and Van der Flier barged over for the try. Frawley missed the conversion to leave Sale leading 13-11 at the interval.
Leinster desperately need to recalibrate at the interval, and they did almost from the get-go.
Gibson-Park both created and finished the try, Van der Flier – a worthy man of the match – played an important middle role, in making the line break and providing the scoring pass. Two Leinster changes had a significant impact on the second half, Joe McCarthy and Ngatai made a huge difference to their team in terms of winning the gainline, a far from common occurrence in the first half.
The home side were more accurate and direct with their carrying playing off greater depth, all of which enabled them to play off quicker, front-foot ball. Henshaw grabbed his side’s third try, running a good line and showing strength to power over, while Baird finally got the score his work-rate merited, confirming the four-try bonus point at that stage.
Replacement prop Cian Healy tagged on a fifth but Sale finished the game with a flourish, grabbing two tries while Leinster were down a man after Keenan was sent to the bin for a shoulder charge. Lively hooker Tommy Taylor was driven over from a lineout maul and then pacy winger Aaron Reed set up a run-in for Tom Curtis; the home side at this point down to 13 players following an injury to Ngatai.
The only cavil for Sale was that they didn’t manage either a four-try or a losing bonus point, the final scoreline a better reflection of a fine, hard-nosed effort from the visitors, who possessed a real cutting edge out wide that had Leinster in trouble time and again.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 3 mins: R du Preez pen, 0-3; 14: Frawley pen, 3-3; 16: Du Preez pen, 3-6; 25: Doherty try, Du Preez con, 3-13; 30: Frawley pen, 6-13; 39: Van der Flier try, 11-13. Half-time: 11-13. 43: Gibson-Park try, 16-13; 56: Henshaw try, Frawley con, 23-13; 62: Baird try, Frawley con, 30-13; 70: Healy try, Prendergast con, 37-13; 78: Taylor try, Du Preez conversion, 37-20; 80: Curtis try, Du Preez con, 37-27.
LEINSTER: H Keenan; J Larmour, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J O’Brien; C Frawley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Clarkson; J Jenkins, J Ryan; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.
Replacements: J McCarthy for Jenkins (h-t); M Ala’alatoa for Clarkson (44 mins); C Ngatai for Larmour (55); R Kelleher for Sheehan (59); C Healy for Porter (63); J Conan for Doris, S Prendergast for Frawley (both 65); B Murphy for Gibson-Park (69).
Yellow cards: R Henshaw (3 mins), H Keenan (78).
SALE: T Veainu; T Roebuck, C Doherty, S Bedlow, A Reed; R du Preez, R Quirke; R Harrison, T Taylor, J Harper; B Bamber, J Beaumont; E van Rhyn, S Dugdale, R Birch.
Replacements: A Opoku-Fordjour for Harper (46 mins); JL du Preez for Birch (48); J Hill for Beaumont (51); J Carpenter for Veainu, T Onasanya for Harrison, Beaumont for van Rhyn (all 57); T Curtis for Doherty (61); N Thomas for Quirke (65); E Caine for Beaumont (66).
Referee: P Brousset (France)
Yellow card: J Harper (37 mins).
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