URC semi-final: Leinster 37 Glasgow Warriors 19
Full report: Leinster overcome champions Glasgow to set up URC final at Croke Park
Here’s the match report from the Aviva:
[ Leinster overcome champions Glasgow to set up URC final at Croke ParkOpens in new window ]
FT: Leinster 37 Glasgow 19
“Everyone loves to hate Leinster so that’s really driving us on,” says Joe McCarthy.
That’s probably a good place to sign off. Leinster take it to the last day of the season with a 37-19 win in Aviva Stadium and showing better confidence than they have in the last few weeks. They now face the winners of Sharks and Bulls.
Match report to follow...
FT: Leinster 37 Glasgow 19
Ryan Baird: “We played them twice before and we couldn’t take it for granted. We want to win this tournament. They came to our home patch but we came out the right side of the result. What we prided ourselves on today was how physical we could be. Glasgow had a lot of Lions so we had to show that physicality.”
FT: Leinster 37 Glasgow 19
The final whistle goes and Leinster have taken out the reigning champions. Glasgow fired a few shots but never gained threatening purchase on the game. It’s a better vibe for Leinster than last week’s win against Scarlets and they now face either Sharks, who beat Munster last week in a penalty shoot out, and Bulls.
FT: Leinster 37 Glasgow 19
The game has opened up as players tires and Leinster know they have won. But Glasgow centre, Sione Tuipulotu makes it look far too easy as he dances his way through three or four Leinster players for a late try and conversion. The clouds then open for more heavy rain.
Leinster 37 Glasgow 19
Ryan Baird gets Man of the Match. Thoroughly deserved today for his competitive edge and lineout work from beginning to end.
Leinster 37 Glasgow 12
Replacement Dobey dummies a long pass then bursts through the middle for a late Glasgow try under the posts. The contest has been long over. But Leinster will not want to leak any more tries in the final seven minutes.
Leinster 37 Glasgow 12
Everybody is out on their feet as Glasgow counter attack from their own line and Leinster finally get the ball off the field. A lot of players on their knees sucking air as Leinster look for their seventh try of the match.
Kelleher gains ground to the Glasgow 22 far too easily. A one handed offload from RG keeps the ball alive but the final kick through is just to far ahead for Frawley to get hands on it.
Leinster 37 Glasgow 5
Prendergast gives way for Ross Byrne.
Leinster cut Glasgow to pieces in a sweeping move starting on the left with Lowe winning the ball in the air and making ground and ending with Frawley touching down in the right corner. The conversion missed and that is just three kicks from seven for Leinster.
Leinster 37 Glasgow 5
Frawley, Snyman, Kelleher and Slimani have come in for Leinster.
Another kick to the corner as referee Piardi warns Jordan for coming in from the side. Sheehan takes it up twice as Leinster pound the Glasgow defensive line. But it takes a wonderful skip pass from Gibson Park to Osborne who easily runs in for his second try. Prendergast converts for 32-5.
Leinster 32 Glasgow 5
Prendergast misses a simple penalty as Leinster opt for points rather than an attacking lineout. That will not do is confidence from the tee much good. The ball hits the post and bounces back into play. A bad miss from the outhalf.
Good and bad from Prendergast who dummies to kick long but jinks the ball over heads for Tommy O’Brien to run on to. He then knocks on to kill the Leinster attack.
Leinster 25 Glasgow 5
The sun briefly comes out. Leinster are looking confident going forward. Another penalty goes to the corner. Baird rises and takes the ball and Sheehan bursts for the line from the maul but it stopped. Barrett gets over the line running from deep but the ball spills forward in contact and it’s a let off for Glasgow.
Leinster 25 Glasgow 5
Glasgow make a raft of changes as Leinster win the kicking game. Glasgow are turning over a lot of ball in the air and making it easy for Leinster to turnover ball and gain territory.
Leinster 25 Glasgow 5
Hastings off McDowell in for Glasgow at 10.
HT: Leinster 25 Glasgow 5
Another scrum penalty to Leinster, their third. Prendergast kicks to the corner for the last play of the half. Conan takes the ball and bodies pile in as the maul moved towards the Glasgow line. Who else but Sheehan at the back of the maul touches down for the fourth Leinster try and his second of the match. Prendergast misses again but the half closes with Leinster ahead 25-5.
Leinster 25 Glasgow 5
The wet ball is causing some handling errors on both sides as a Leinster lineout squirts away from Baird with just five minutes to go to half-time.
A scrum penalty to Leinster and Prendergast kicks for an attacking lineout. Their tails are up. Sheehan finds Baird and delivers to Sheehan driving forward. Bodies pile in and prop Clarkson stretches over for Leinster’s third try. Prendergast pulls his conversion kick to the left.
Leinster 20 Glasgow 5
Great strength from Lowe who flicks a one handed pass to Osborne on the tramlines. Osborne takes off and this time the try sticks as Leinster extend their lead. Excellent hands from Lowe and execution from Osborne.
Leinster 15 Glasgow 5
A wonderful kick and chase from Tommy O’Brien takes Leinster into the Glasgow half. The ball spills looses and Gibson Park is there to pick up the pieces. He picks out Osborne racing up the middle. All too quick for the Scottish side’s defence. But referee Piardi looks at it again and it’s forward from Gibson Park and NO try. It stays 10-5. It is the second time Leinster have had a try ruled out.
Leinster 10 Glasgow 5
Hastings knocks forward after Prendergast hoists a high ball. Leinster scrum with options left and right. Prendergast chips over for Jimmy O’Brien to chase with a penalty advantage. Prendergast kicks the points to open the gap.
Leinster 10 Glasgow 5
Conan claims the Leinster lineout ball and they press into the 22. Big carry from Lowe and the Sheehan but the ball is jackaled by Glasgow. Referee Piardi talks to both captains about chat between players. The rain pours down.
Really is end to end stuff as Leinster sweep up and get to the Glasgow line. But referee Piardi pings Lowe, who runs in front of the ball. A bit of a schermozzle follows but no cards are flashed.
Jack Conan off his feet and Glasgow kick their penalty for an attacking lineout. Joe McCarthy brilliantly slaps the ball back and after some panic and scramble, Leinster clear their lines.
Glasgow launch an attack from halfway lineout. But good defence this time with Porter holding up Tom Jordan and earning a scrum.
What a responses from Glasgow. Kyle Rowe takes off down the left wing and deftly kicks the ball in field, where George Horne wins the foot race and touches down for a try. The conversions is missed but Glasgow have shown they have come to play and Leinster defence again exposed.
Leinster 7 Glasgow 5
Early penalty for Leinster and Prendergast kicks to touch. Baird takes the lineout ball. Leinster go through multiple phases and finally Gibson Park finds Dan Sheehan who muscles over the line from a few yards out. Prendergast converts in a bright start from the home side.
Leinster 7 Glasgow 0
The teams have just emerged from the tunnel and Glasgow instantly get into a huddle in the middle of the pitch. They are off with Sam Prendergast with the first kick of the ball.
“With and without the ball will be important today. We know Leinster will be up for this one. We know in play-offs pressure is on both sides,” Franco Smith Glasgow coach
52-0 to Leinster, when the teams met in April in the Champions Cup quarter-final.
“There is a huge amount of pressure on them, on the organisation to deliver.” former Ireland number 8 Jamie Heaslip.
“You gotta just try and recover put the game out of your system, get a new plan. They’ve (Leinster players) worked hard this week. Glasgow I’m sure will have their own plans. It’s a great test, isn’t it. Do or die we know.” – Leo Cullen
By the way, Bulls and Sharks in the other URC semi-final takes place in South Africa after Leinster’s games with Glasgow.
This week former hooker Bernard Jackman spoke about Leinster being afflicted by ‘performance anxiety’ while fearing the players’ confidence was shot following that Northampton loss. In around half ab hour we will find out.
URC semi-final: Leinster v Glasgow Warriors, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, 2.45pm – Live on RTÉ 2 and Premier Sports 1
Here is Gerry Thornley’s preview from this morning’s Irish Times. If a week is a long time in politics, then eight weeks can be an age in rugby. Only two months ago, Leinster eviscerated Glasgow 52-0 in the Champions Cup quarter-final, yet rivers of water have flowed under the bridge since then.
Full-strength, flying and on a mission for that fifth star, Leinster were close to unbeatable in blowing away a weakened Glasgow. But three weeks later a curiously undercooked Leinster were beaten 37-34 in the semi-final by Northampton. Despite three successive wins, including an altogether tougher 13-5 defeat of Glasgow, Leinster have looked mentally scarred by that crushing setback ever since.
By contrast, Glasgow arrive buoyed by last week’s handsome win over the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship quarter-finals. A place in the final is at stake, along with the chance to win the last piece of silverware on offer this season.
The Leinster team that dismantled Glasgow eight weeks ago is not available in its entirety. Hugo Keenan and Josh van der Flier are the latest to join Tadhg Furlong, Caelan Doris, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose on the sidelines. Any team, even Leinster, would feel their loss.
Granted, this is partially offset by the return of Tommy O’Brien, while Scott Penny replaces Van der Flier and Dan Sheehan starts, with Rónan Kelleher reverting to the bench, in the personnel changes from last week’s lacklustre win over the Scarlets. Jimmy O’Brien, for his part, switches to fullback.
If the game gets sticky and it goes down to the last 15 minutes, you need to adapt and play the referee, play the opposition, the conditions. – Leo Cullen
True, Leinster still have eight of their dozen Lions, while the Warriors are missing two of their Lions quartet, Zander Fagerson and Huw Jones. But they should be very different to the team beaten 52-0. The talismanic and refreshed Sione Tuipulotu has hit the ground running in two return games, Josh McKay and Lions lock Scott Cummings have also returned from injury, as has influential South African number eight Henco Venter from suspension. It will be a starting 15 with eight changes from eight weeks ago.
A third clash in that time will contribute to a relatively low turnout through the doors at the Aviva Stadium. Ticket sales were approaching 15,000 as of Friday. In a sense, Leinster are being punished for earning five knock-out ties as well as TV-dictated kick-off times, but knock-out fatigue is not a new phenomenon and has compounded Aviva overload this season.
After all, only 9,346 turned up for the URC quarter-final on this weekend three long years ago when Leinster beat Glasgow 76-14. Just 11,565 attended the semi-final against the Bulls a week later.
That would prove to be the first of three semi-final defeats in succession which, coupled with three successive final losses in Europe and the recent Northampton defeat, should add to their motivation.
“There’s enough going on here to be motivated to get through this game at the weekend,” said Leinster coach Leo Cullen good-naturedly but, perhaps, a tad revealingly. “And, listen, if you get a performance lots of other things fall into place.
“But, if the game gets sticky and it goes down to the last 15 minutes, you need to adapt and play the referee, play the opposition, the conditions. We’re focused, we want to do well and that’s the focus this week.”
It’s as if Leinster are bracing themselves for a tight finish. Cullen joked aloud as to whether last week’s goal-kicking shoot-out between Sharks and Munster in Durban was a factor in recalling Ross Byrne for his Aviva farewell and reverting to a 5-3 split.
One always senses that Cullen likes the insurance policy of Byrne on the bench to see out a close game. Certainly, last week’s restrictive territory-based tactics against the Scarlets were in keeping with the mantra coming out of Leinster’s HPC last Monday around “this is knock-out rugby”. With the forecast looking none too worse, it seems safe to presume that more of the same mentality and game plan will apply here.
“There’s a little bit around the conditions as well,” noted Cullen, citing “a fair old downpour” last weekend and the forecast.
“It’s knock-out games, particularly the way teams come and play against us. They’re not playing a huge amount of multiphase rugby. We’ve seen teams come with strong kicking plans. You have to be able to adapt on the day.”
He also pointed to one of the two changes made by his counterpart Franco Smith to Glasgow’s 36-18 win over the Stormers, namely recalling Adam Hastings at outhalf in place of Tom Jordan, whose running game was so impressive last week.
“They’d a very different plan around kicking last time to when we played them the first time. Adam Hastings is in at number 10 instead of Tom Jordan. He’s more of a kicking 10, so that would suggest he might kick the ball more, but we’ll wait and see.”
Yet Glasgow are URC champions for a reason. They are a clever unit and like to come up with well-executed strike moves designed by Nigel Carolan trick plays. They are liable to play with more freedom. “As long as we don’t become predictable, that’s important,” said Smith last week.
Leinster look vulnerable too, but they have lost only two of 39 URC games at this venue. They also have a strong bench and, if they can rediscover some of their attacking accuracy and patience, they should edge a close encounter.
LEINSTER: Jimmy O’Brien; Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (capt).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Josh McKay; Kyle Steyn (capt), Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe; Adam Hastings, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson; Alex Samuel, Scott Cummings; Euan Ferrie, Rory Darge, Henco Venter.
Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Rory Sutherland, Sam Talakai, Max Williamson, Jack Mann, Macenzzie Duncan, Stafford McDowall, Jamie Dobie.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).
Good afternoon and welcome to The Irish Times blog of Leinster’s URC semi-final against Glasgow in Aviva Stadium.
A dull and overcast day in Dublin but dry, Leinster are without a number of frontline players including Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong and Josh van der Flier.
A place in next week’s final is up for grabs.
