Cardiff 29 Leinster 27
Leinster fell to only their second defeat of the URC season as they were pipped at the death as Jarrod Evans kicked a penalty off the 10-metre line to earn Cardiff their first win of the year.
Ross Byrne’s immaculate boot seemed to have won the game for the champions in the 75th minute with another penalty, but then a high tackle in the last play of the game gave the home side one last shot at ending a run of 16 successive defeats to Leinster.
Up stepped Jarrod Evans and over went the 45-metre kick that raised the roof at the Arms Park and brought the Welsh region their first win over Leinster since February 2011.
Having been forced to play their last Champions Cup game behind closed doors Cardiff were pleased to welcome back fans for their biggest test of the season, even if it was against a Leinster side shorn of all bar three of their 17 Irish squad members. The boys in blue are the perennial standard bearers of the URC and they came into the game with extra incentive after what happened 40 miles down the M4 earlier in the day.
The Ospreys’ 23-19 win over league leaders Edinburgh opened the door for Leo Cullen’s men to take over at the top if they could do what they always seem to do - win in Wales. They arrived having lost only once in their last 16 trips to Wales and were also boasting 16 wins on the bounce against the home side in all competitions.
The equation wasn’t quite that easy as they needed to win with a bonus point to rise to the top, and that against a side that had shown its mettle in the Champions Cup by doing surprisingly well against Toulouse and Harlequins with second string sides.
The Blue & Blacks came into this one without a win since October 23rd, and missing six of their eight Welsh squad members. Wayne Pivac released the frontrow pair, Rhys Carre and Dillon Lewis, to get some extra minutes under their belts, although Dai Young started them on the bench.
Will Connors, Rhys Ruddock and Ross Byrne were similarly released by Irish boss Andy Farrell and it was the latter who kicked-off the scoring as early as the third minute when he punished a home forward for putting his hands in the cookie jar at a breakdown 38 metres out from the posts.
It had been Byrne who had delivered the final nail in the Cardiff coffin the last time the two teams met at the Arms Park in the opening game of the 2018-19 season. On that occasion it was a last gasp penalty shot that had earned a 33-32.
His opposite number Jarrod Evans levelled things up midway through the first half with a 35-metre penalty and then cross kicked inch perfectly into the hands of Owen Lane. The Wales international wing caught the ball on the Leinster 10-metre line and showed a clean pair of heels to three chasers as he notched the first try of the game.
Evans added the extra, but then Adam Byrne copied Lane by sprinting clear for an instant reply. Ross Byrne converted and it was all square again. Ben Thomas then added a penalty for offside and it was 13-10 at the break.
Leinster had looked threatening when they got the ball wide and Ciaran Frawley and Jamie Osborne were a constant threat in the midfield. The predatory work of Jim Botham and Will Boyde at the breakdown was impressive and the visitors were probably pleased to see Boyde being replaced for the second half by Sam Moore.
Evans passed his HIA and returned for the second half and he extended the lead with two more penalties to put the visitors on the back foot. The arrival of James Tracy added some extra impetus to Leinster’s forward effort and it was the replacement hooker who claimed the close range try after Botham had been sent to the sin-bin.
Ross Byrne’s conversion made it a two-point game and the physicality level from the champions were markedly greater than earlier in the game. Then, on the hour mark, Scott Penny raced through a lineout and scored the try that gave Leinster the lead again.
Byrne converted just as Botham returned, but the Welsh international flanker’s absence had cost his side 14 points. It wasn’t over though and Hallam Amos ran in a second try that Evans converted to edge Cardiff in front again, but then Byrne hit the mark with a 75th minute penalty to seemingly win the game.
It didn’t, though, Evans had the final word with the final kick of the game and the Welsh were singing.
Scorers; Cardiff: Try: O Lane, H Amos; Cons: J Evans 2; Pens: J Evans 3, B Thomas. Leinster: Tries: A Byrne, J Tracy, S Penny; Cons: R Byrne 3; Pen: R Byrne
Cardiff: H Amos; O Lane, R Lee-Lo, B Thomas (M Llewellyn 67), A Summerhill; J Evans (G Smith 28-40), L Williams; C Domachowski, (R Carre 51) K Myhil (E Daniel 67); D Arhip (D Lewis 51), J Turnbull (captain); R Thornton (T Williams 58), S Lewis-Hughes, W Boyde (S Moore 41), J Botham. Replacements: Unused: J Hill. Yellow card: J Botham 51
Leinster: J O'Brien (T O'Brien 54); A Byrne, J Osbourne (H Byrne 64), C Frawley, R O'Loughlin; R Byrne, L McGrath (captain); E Byrne (P Dooley54), S Cronin (J Tracy 48), M Ala'alatoa; D Toner (R Molony 54), J McCarthy; R Ruddock, W Connors (M Deegan 30), S Penny. Replacements: Unused: V Abdaladze, N McCarthy.
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
