Leinster 36 Leicester 22: Champions Cup last 16 as it happened

From reporter John O’Sullivan

Leinster’s quarter-final clash with La Rochelle will be played at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday (5.30pm). Tickets for Leinster’s game against La Rochelle will go on sale for season ticket holders on Sunday morning (10am) and on general sale on Monday afternoon at 2pm. Here is his match report:

[ Hat-trick hero Gibson-Park outstanding on flawed night for Leinster ]

That’s all from me, good night! Tune in for live coverage of Munster’s game against Northampton tomorrow. Kickoff at 12.30pm.

Full-time: Leinster 36 Leicester 22

A slightly flawed display by Leinster at times, but still they were always too good for Leicester. A truly outstanding game by Gibson-Park, who scored a hat-trick. Other tries from Conan and Henshaw as Leinster were blistering at times, sloppy in others. Next up is La Rochelle, who are their arch-nemesis in the competition.

Caelan Doris speaks to RTÉ: “Performance-wise we’re far off our best, we will need to be better next week. Discipline was the glaring one there, gave away a lot of penalties. Having said that, they’re a quality team, knockout is always tricky and we got the win.”

77 mins: Try for Leicester. From the lineout Leinster completely mess it up, goes long. Charlie Clare scores and Pollard nicely converts. Been a spirited display by the English side. Unfortunately Healy seems to have got injured and comes off for the last few minutes.

Leinster 36 Leicester 22

73 mins: Try for Leinster! To seal the deal, it’s Conan again but legitimately this time. Baird with great work. Inside pass by Osborne, Baird breaks through, strong and fast running, lays off to Conan who runs it in under the posts. Harry Byrne converts.

Leinster 36 Leicester 15

69 mins: Ross Byrne unfortunately got a massive hit and is receiving treatment on his arm. His shoulder again in trouble, his younger brother Harry is on. Attacking scrum for Leicester, again a long pass could have been intercepted, chance for Frawley who gets hands on it but it’s dropped.

Leinster 29 Leicester 15

63 mins: Bad pass by Ross Byrne under no pressure concedes a scrum for Leinster as Gibson-Park can’t keep it. Leicester do well from the scrum, great back play, Hassell-Collins completely does Henshaw, but messes up the pass completely.

Leinster 29 Leicester 15

59 mins: Leinster win a penalty and go for the scrum. Conan rushes towards the line, it is given as a try, but Conan drops the ball just before the line under pressure from three players and it is overturned by the TMO. Leinster go for it from Leicester’s scrum, trying to squeeze them, but van Poortvliet safely clears.

Leinster 29 Leicester 15

55 mins: Healy, Kelleher, Conan and Ala’alatoa are all on for Leinster, resting some players with other challenges in mind.

Leinster 29 Leicester 15

51 mins: Try for Leinster! Another great turnover by Leicester... or so it seemed! They won out of the maul, but Henshaw reads the poor long pass by Kelly to the wing perfectly and steals the ball. He runs straight through the middle uncontested. Byrne converts in front of the posts.

Leinster 29 Leicester 15

47 mins: Try for Leicester! They win the lineout, maul gets over the line with extra numbers. The scorer is Irishman James Cronin. Pollard’s kick is difficult from the sideline, but hits the post.

Leinster 22 Leicester 15

44 mins: Yellow for James Lowe. Leinster concede a penalty after a scrappy start to the second half. Leicester within five metres of the line, Lowe appears to have blocked the ball illegally, could be in trouble. Yep, it’s the sin bin.

Leinster 22 Leicester 10

40 min: Porter gets ahead of himself for trying to steal from the scrumhalf but falls over him. Silly penalty, Pollard to touch for an attacking lineout, which is successful for Leinster. But Leicester return the favour with a silly offside. Leinster then start purring again with the ball in hand. Sheehan again like another back, running at the defence and a good kick. Leicester kick to touch, happy to get to half-time.

Half-time: Leinster 22 Leicester 10

A good contest, but Leinster just know how to turn up the gears very quickly and accelerate away. Hat-trick hero Gibson-Park playing as well as he can. Dan Sheehan and Joe McCarthy with big games as well. Some great rugby by Leinster and if they continue like that in attack, it is hard to see Leicester coming back into it.

37 mins: Chance for Leicester, nice kick by Kelly, Hassell-Collins had an opening on the wing but his grubber kick was stopped by Leinster. Leicester on the attack for numerous phases before Joe McCarthy takes matters into his own hands and grabs the ball with a superb turnover. Lowe then kicks well into touch, well down the pitch.

Leinster 22 Leicester 10

32 mins: Try for Leinster! The magic Gibson-Park, can’t stop him. Osborne finds some space after a nice short pass by Henshaw and Gibson-Park is electric in the finish again. Ready to go and it’s a hat-trick within 30 minutes. Byrne converts.

Leinster 22 Leicester 10

29 mins: Penalty scored for Leicester. Some very good play by Leicester with quick passing to the wing. They get within 10 metres of the Leinster line and Leinster concede a penalty. They knock Steward out of play, but back for the penalty. Pollard goes for three points and he scores.

Leinster 15 Leicester 10

25 mins: Try for Leinster! Another try for Gibson-Park, who is on fire today. Sheehan again doing well. Gibson-Park with a sharp pass and a one-two essentially, Sheehan running and straight back to Gibson-Park who is too fast for the defence and scores again. Byrne misses the conversion.

Leinster 15 Leicester 7

19 mins: Keenan claims the ball well from the air as usual but is penalised for not releasing as he’s surrounded by Leicester players. Pollard kicks to touch, although not very far. Leinster penalised again from the lineout, a scrum for Leicester.

Leinster 10 Leicester 7

14 mins: Try for Leinster! A few crisp passes from Gibson-Park and Lowe to the wing create space and Leicester penalised for being off their feet. Then from that Leinster ignite with sensational rugby, Sheehan to McCarthy who finds a line and runs at pace and perfect awareness to Gibson-Park who finishes easily. Some beautiful play there, what Leinster are capable of.

Leinster 10 Leicester 7

10 mins: Penalty scored for Leinster. Leinster win penalty advantage in the middle, Gibson-Park dummy makes some space and Osborne goes down the wing but loses ball, back for the penalty. Ross Byrne goes for the posts, and he scores from close range.

Leinster 3 Leicester 7

6 mins: Try for Leicester! Leinster turn over the lineout, but nearly lose their own lineout as the throw goes over everyone. They secure the ball, but another attack for Leicester. Cronin breaks through well into the 22. They keep pushing and Weise lays off to Pollard who is strong over the line. Great start for the English team, the South African World Cup winner showing his class. He converts too.

Leinster 0 Leicester 7

3 mins: Early possession for Leicester, a Pollard chip is well read by Keenan and a poor kick by Lowe out on the full. Then a penalty for Leicester in the ruck. Pollard kicks for touch.

Leinster 0 Leicester 0

The teams again as kickoff approaches:

Leinster: H Keenan; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; R Molony, J McCarthy; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.

Replacements: R Kelleher, C Healy, M Ala’alatoa, J Jenkins, J Conan, B Murphy, H Byrne, C Frawley.

Leicester Tigers: J Shillcock; F Steward, D Kelly, S Kata, O Hassell-Collins; H Pollard, J van Poortvliet; J Cronin, J Montoya (capt), D Cole; H Wells, K Hatherell; H Liebenberg, O Cracknell, J Wiese.

Replacements: C Clare, F van Wyk, W Hurd, F Carnduff, E Ilione, T Whiteley, P Cokanasiga, M Brown.

Johnny Watterson does not think it will be a walk in the park today for Leinster. He writes:

“Exeter Chiefs director of rugby, Rob Baxter, told Rob Kitson in the Guardian earlier this week, which went along the lines that seemingly predictable outcomes in rugby don’t always pan out the way people think they will.

“Doubling up on games you’ve had a good result in is the hardest thing to do in rugby,” he explained. “The amount of times I’ve been involved, either playing or coaching, when you’ve won by 30 points one week and the next time it’s so different.”

[ Leinster have no room for complacency as they bid to tame Tigers again ]

This is what happened when Leinster played Leicester away in the pool stage in January. John O’Sullivan writes:

“Leinster’s victory was a touch more emphatic than the final score suggests but the aesthetics matter less when parsed against the outcome in registering a bonus-point victory, a landmark they reached with the final play of the match.

“The Irish province negotiated an unbeaten passage through their four Champions Cup pool matches and, in the process, tallied enough points to ensure they won’t have to leave Dublin until the final at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium if they can continue unbeaten through the knockout phase of the tournament.”

[ Leinster outmuscle Leicester as bonus-point win sets up home run ]

In his preview of the game, Johnny Watterson writes Leinster expect physical Tigers to maul hard.

“Leinster beat Leicester in the pool phase in Welford Road last January. A healthy Ringrose played in that game, Harry Byrne started at 10 and Ryan co-captained with Ringrose. It was also the same starting backrow. It is not quite rinse and repeat for Cullen. Leinster have their own DNA and that has always been their greatest strength.”

[ Leinster expect physical Tigers to maul hard ]

From elsewhere in the competition:

Defending champions La Rochelle scraped through to the Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals after Manie Libbok missed a last-gasp conversion for Stormers in the 22-21 away victory.

It means Ronan O’Gara’s side will travel to Dublin next weekend to face Leinster in the quarter-finals if Leo Cullen’s side can see off Leicester in their Round of 16 tie at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night.

Libbok kicked 11 points and had the chance to dump out the holders after Suleiman Hartzenberg’s 79th-minute try, but dragged his conversion just wide.

The South Africa international outhalf put Stormers ahead with two penalties and they took advantage of Will Skelton’s yellow card as Herschel Jantjies scored their first try, Libbok adding the extras.

He then extended their lead with another penalty 10 minutes into the second half for a 15-0 advantage.

Ronan O’Gara’s side raced back into the game through a Louis Penverne try, with Antoine Hastoy converting, before the outhalf added a penalty.

The French side took the lead through Gregory Alldritt’s converted try before Joel Sclavi added another touchdown before the late drama saw La Rochelle squeeze through.

A hard to team to get rid of. They never give up. Meanwhile, the Bulls thrashed Lyon 59-19.

[ Defending champions La Rochelle squeeze through as Stormers miss late conversion ]

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Champions Cup last 16 match between Leinster and Leicester at the Aviva. There may be only a few letters in the difference of the names, but there has been a far greater difference in the fortunes of both sides this season. Leinster have won 15 out of 17 games in all competitions and lead the URC table, and are second seeds for the Champions Cup. Leicester are seventh in the Premiership table and struggled into this stage. So the Irish province will expect victory here, but anything can happen in knockout rugby. Kick-off is at 8pm.

Interestingly, the winners will play Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle. The back-to-back Champions Cup winners came from 16-0 down to beat the Stormers, 22-21, in Cape Town to book a quarter-final spot. Stormers outhalf Manie Libbok missed a conversion attempt with the last kick of the game to win it.

Leinster: H Keenan; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; R Molony, J McCarthy; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.

Replacements: R Kelleher, C Healy, M Ala’alatoa, J Jenkins, J Conan, B Murphy, H Byrne, C Frawley.

Leicester Tigers: J Shillcock; F Steward, D Kelly, S Kata, O Hassell-Collins; H Pollard, J van Poortvliet; J Cronin, J Montoya (capt), D Cole; H Wells, K Hatherell; H Liebenberg, O Cracknell, J Wiese.

Replacements: C Clare, F van Wyk, W Hurd, F Carnduff, E Ilione, T Whiteley, P Cokanasiga, M Brown.