Leinster Rugby Beat Spirited ASM Clermont Auvergne 15-07 in a Round 2 fixture of the 2024/25 Investec Champions Cup on Saturday evening at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Not intimidated by the occasion, Clermont got off to the perfect start at the Aviva Stadium after pegging the Leinster men back into their own half. It was Alivereti Raka who forced it into touch for the first points of the encounter.
This naturally served as motivation for the Irish giants to turn up for their home faithful, whose support was soon rewarded with a Garry Ringrose try on 21 minutes.
Clermont then saw themselves drift further behind less than five minutes later when man-of-the-moment Jordie Barrett rolled the ball home on his home debut. Leinster Rugby led 12-7 at the halftime break
The Irish giants, with much international talent on display in the shape of stars such as Caelan Doris, Garry Ringrose, RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett, wanted to extend their advantage soon into the second half.
And their wish was soon granted through the feet of Sam Prendergast.
The young yet impressive fly-half increased the home side’s lead through the penalty spot to put breathing space between the two sides.
The home side wanted to extend their advantage even more as the tie went on, and they did come close to adding to their tally towards the end of the affair, but a widely watertight Clermont stemmed any potential bleeds. The Full-time score was 15-07 for Leinster Rugby.
Scorers:
Leinster Rugby: Tries: Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett. Conversion: Sam Prendergast. Penalty: Sam Prendergast.
ASM Clermont Auvergne: Try: Alivereti Raka. Conversion: Baptiste Jauneau.
Teams:
Leinster Rugby: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Liam Turner, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Max Deegan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter. Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Fintan Gunne, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Andrew Osborne.
ASM Clermont Auvergne: 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Lucas Tauzin, 13 Pierre Fouyssac, 12 George Moala, 11 Alivereti Raka, 10 Irae Simone, 9 Baptiste Jauneau, 8 Fritz Lee (c), 7 Alexandre Fischer, 6 Killian Tixeront, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Peceli Yato, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Etienne Falgoux. Replacements: 16 Barnabe Massa, 17 Giorgi Akhaladze, 18 Cristian Ojovan, 19 Oskar Rixen, 20 Antoine Chalus-Cercy, 21 Sebastien Bezy, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Theo Giral.