Leinster 38 Glasgow 13: Securing a late draw against Montpellier in France last week, champions Leinster showed their grit. This week they put on a first half display of sheer class against Glasgow at the RDS, when registering a bonus-point win to move top of Pool Three.
Fourteen senior internationals began the game for the home side but it was the only man without a full cap who flourished in the first half. Staking a claim for the number 13 jersey in the absence of the convalescing Brian O'Driscoll, Eoin O'Malley touched down twice before the break between tries from Rob Kearney and Gordon D'Arcy.
Joe Schmidt's men struggled to reach those heights after the restart as Glasgow sought to cut the 31-6 lead and Mike Ross, D’Arcy, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton and Kevin McLaughlin were replaced. The visitors eventually succeeded in the 74th minute when Henry Pyrgos scored the first points of the second half under the posts.
Leinster upped the intensity immediately and showed one last glimpse of brilliance when Isaac Boss was put through by an exquisite flicked pass off the ground by fellow substitute Shane Jennings.
“You don’t tend to get anything easy with Glasgow, but it was certainly a relief to get through the way we did,” Schmidt said afterwards. “We had to build some pretty combative phases to get over and we were just delighted to get the space on the scoreboard that took a bit of pressure off in the second half.
“The first 40 minutes was probably the best 40 we have put together. I thought we built the momentum really well and stayed really focused on the job in hand."
Duncan Weir, Glasgow's man-of-the-match in last weekend's win over Bath, banged over a long-range penalty in the third minute to nudge them ahead. But right from the restart, Leinster capitalised on an error from the visitors to put Kearney over in the right corner. Showing great vision, Sexton hung up a cross-field kick for Isa Nacewa and he drew the tackle before feeding Kearney for the score.
The conversion was expertly added from wide out by Sexton, whose half-back partner Reddan was to the forefront of a bright opening spell.
Stuart Hogg rampaged downfield to bring the Warriors into the hosts' 22 but the home defence held firm and Nacewa's kick chase on the right led to Sexton hammering over a penalty, having earlier missed one from the other side.
Glasgow replied through the boot of Weir, who split the posts after Leinster's Toner was sin-binned for pulling down a player at a lineout. However, Leinster were beginning to find their rhythm in attack and they went for the jugular when Sexton took a quick tap. Having been pulled to the left and right, Glasgow were caught out by their posts as Heaslip powered into contact and O'Malley snuck over from the ruck.
Six minutes later, man-of-the-match Jamie Heaslip broke from a scrum in the Scots' 22 and when play was swept back into midfield, D'Arcy's superb short pass sent O'Malley darting through for his second seven-pointer.
Glasgow's share of possession dwindled as half-time approached and some neat interplay between Sean O'Brien and Nacewa sent D'Arcy over to the right of the posts.
Sexton tagged on his fourth successful conversion, giving Glasgow a mountain to climb at 31-6 down. They pressed early in the second half, with Ryan Wilson being brought down just inches short of the try-line.
Al Kellock and Richie Gray were prominent as Sean Lineen's side raised the tempo, with winger Tommy Seymour unfortunate to knock on in plenty of space.
Glasgow were the aggressors for much of the closing half hour, Leinster seemingly content to empty their bench and trust their defence.
They were caught out when Troy Nathan thundered straight through a 74th-minute ruck and passed for fellow replacement Pyrgos to touch down, with Weir converting. But Leinster finished the game on the attack, a half-break from Ian Madigan and Jennings' deft one-handed flick creating the opening for Boss to round off a satisfying Sunday afternoon for the province.
