Leinster 41 Zebre 6
A significant win in the present, but also in the both the shorter and longer term. Leinster’s 13th home win in 13 games this season was achieved while resting a raft of frontliners, thus cementing their place atop Conference B while also taking another step towards securing a home semi-final in the Guinness Pro 14.
Admittedly, as they know from last season, that is no guarantee of success. Nonetheless, coupled with Ulster’s win over third-placed Edinburgh, Leinster now need only to beat Benetton at home next Saturday to ensure they bypass the quarter-finals on the weekend before the European Champions Cup final.
That said, the Scarlets, who beat them at the RDS in last season’s semi-finals and loom large on Leinster’s horizon in the European Champions Cup semi-final on Saturday week at the Aviva, remained within four points of Leinster thanks to their 26-8 win over Conference A runaway leaders Glasgow.
If Leinster sign off with two wins at home to Benetton and away to Connacht, they will nail down another home semi-final, regardless of how the Scarlets do away Edinburgh and the Dragons.
So the end of season run-in is looking promising, and so too, judging by this, are the seasons to come. In giving a debut to the 21-year-old Gavin Mullin, son of former international Brendan, Leinster used their 53rd player this season. There was also a home debut for the big 22-year-old from Mullingar, Conor O’Brien, as well as a try-scoring home debut for the 22-year-old Georgian-born Academy tighthead Vakh Abdaladze.
As pleasing as any aspect of this win for the Leinster think-tank will assuredly have been the manner a relatively callow bench maintained, and even added to, the home side’s intensity. The bonus point having been secured by Max Deegan’s second try on the hour, Leinster added another three in the final 12 minutes.
This was despite the average age of the finishing XV being a mere 23, and with an average of only 22 competitive appearances for their province. All bar James Lowe were homegrown, indigenous players.
They had only one Test cap between them, namely Adam Byrne’s against Argentina last November, and in addition to finishing with four players still in the Academy – Mullin, fellow centre Ciarán Frawley, Abdaladze and Josh Murphy – there were another seven, mostly recent, graduates of the Leinster Academy.
Mick Kearney, a prodigal product of the Leinster Youths set-up before a detour via the Connacht academy, was the elder statesman in the final quarter – at 27.
"It's great for us to see some of the guys coming in like Conor O'Brien, and Vakh Abdaladze. His try was the most pleasing of all, the tries us coaches get most excited by, from one metre out," said Leo Cullen, smiling broadly.
“Vakh did well when he came on, really good energy; Bryan [Byrne] for his try; Ciarán Frawley comes on at 20; Gavin Mullin for his first game for Leinster, so a lot of positives out of the game; just that extra bit of experience for a lot of these guys. It’s a positive experience which is something they can build on and hopefully it’ll make them all better players.”
O’Brien, who also showed some nice touches as well as looking the part physically, had “earned his inclusion” by his “excellent” performance for the Leinster As while Mullin had “jumped over a number of guys because of his quality and consistency in training.”
It’s a barometer of the strain Michael Bradley’s squad are under that Zebre could not field any secondrow or backrow replacements on a rejigged bench, which instead featured four props.
Understandably, Leinster weren’t at their most cohesive, striking regularly enough to eventually attain their bonus point, but Cullen reckons they will be better prepared for next week’s tougher assignment against Benetton, who registered their 10th win of the campaign at home to Dragons to maintain their unlikely quest for a playoff place.
“We’ll get a better week’s training, last week was difficult coming off a Sunday game and we’d to manage the players – some of them were stiff and sore, the lads who doubled up, some didn’t train until Thursday, so we looked a bit like that, a team that had come together on the Thursday, which is essentially what we did.
“You’re trying to get that balance between preparation time and being physically ready. This week, we’ll have a better week and that’ll hopefully lead to a better performance, because that’s what we’ll need to get a similar outcome against Benetton team that is doing very well.”
Jordan Larmour, having been ruled out of the Champions Cup quarter-final win over Saracens, looks likely to return against Benetton.
“He should be in the frame for next week, we hope,” said Cullen. “He’s back running now, [he] will integrate with the team at the start of the week, so if he comes through okay he should be involved in the game.”
Lowe, the one non-indigenous player in the 23-man matchday squad, provided his usual energy and enthusiasm with a brace of tries to take his tally to nine in 10 games.
“The energy he brings is very important. Nine in 10 is a good strike rate. Hopefully,” said a smiling Cullen, “that continues for the rest of his Leinster career.”
SCORING SEQUENCE – 13 mins Lowe try, R Byrne con 7-0; 34 mins Canna pen 7-3; 35 mins O'Loughlin try 12-3; (half-time 12-3); 41 mins Deegan try 17-3; 52 mins Canna pen 17-6; 60 mins Deegan try, R Byrne con 24-6; 69 mins Lowe try 29-6; 73 mins Abdaladze try, R Byrne con 36-6; 78 mins B Byrne try 41-6.
LEINSTER: Barry Daly; Adam Byrne, Rory O'Loughlin, Conor O'Brien, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, James Tracy, Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner (capt), Mick Kearney; Josh Murphy, Dan Leavy, Max Deegan.
Replacements: Ciaran Frawley for Daly (44-50 mins) and for O'Brien (67 mins), Bryan Byrne for Tracey, Peter Dooley for Healy, Vakh Abdaladze for Furlong (all 55 mins), Nick McCarthy for Gibson-Park (61 mins), Ross Molony for Toner, Péadar Timmins for Leavy (62 mins), Gavin Mullin for O'Loughlin (67 mins).
ZEBRE: Matteo Minozzi; Gabriele di Giulio, Giulio Bisegni, Faialaga Afamasaga, Mattia Bellini; Carlo Canna, Marcello Violi; Andrea Lovotti, Oliviero Fabiani, Dario Chistolini; Leonard Krumov, George Biagi (capt); Valerio Bernabó, Jacopo Sarto, David Sisi.
Replacements: Luhandre Luus for Fabiani (27 mins), Roberto Tenga for Chistolini (55 mins), Eduardo Bello for Biagi (59 mins), Cruze Ah-Nau for Lovotti, Guglielmo Palazzani for Violi, Serafin Bordoli for Canna (all 62 mins). Not used: Andrea de Marchi, Giovanbattista Venditti.
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales).
