Leinster Rugby secured a well-deserved 31-07 win with five tries to one, against the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The Lions struggled to find their normal rhythm on the attack in the first half and were “fortunate” to only trail 14-07 at the halftime break. Unfortunately for the Lions, Leinster upped the pace of their attack and scored three tries during the final ten minutes of the match to secure a deserved 31-07 win.
Leinster scored the opening try within two minutes of play, Jamie Osborne fell on a ball toed forward after a “lucky” bounce, Sam Prendergast converted to extend Leinster’s lead to 07-00.
Following a try each cancelled, Leinster upped the speed of their attack, and Tom Clarkson picked up the ball behind a ruck to crash over. Sam Prendergast converted, extending Leinster’s lead to 14-00 after 25 minutes of play.
With five minutes to play in the first half, the Lions’ captain Francke Horne broke several tackles to crash over for their opening try. Chris Smith converted to cut Leinster’s lead to 14-07.
Despite dominating possession and territory in the second half, the defence and attack of Leinster were just marginally better than those of the Lions. And with 10 minutes to play, brilliant hands by Leinster put Hugo Keenan in a gap to score Leinster’s third try, which increased Leinster’s lead to 21-07 following the conversion by Prednergast.
Leinster then took control, and Rieko Ioane scored Leinster’s bonus-point try to lead 26-07 with five minutes to play in the first half.
With time up, Jimmy O'Brien scored Leinster’s fifth try to secure a 31-07 bonus-point win.
Scorers:
Leinster Rugby: Tries: Jamie Osborne, Tom Clarkson, Hugo Keenan, Rieko Ioane, Jimmy O'Brien. Conversions: Sam Prendergast (2), Ciaran Frawley.
Fidelity SecureDriveLions: Try: Francke Horn. Conversion: Chris Smith.
Teams
Leinster Rugby: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Joshua Kenny, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 James Culhane, 7 Will Connors, 6 Max Deegan, 5 James Ryan (c), 4 Brian Deeny, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 John McKee,1 Ed Byrne. Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Scott Penny, 2 Fintan Gunne, 22 Hugh Cooney, 23 Hugo Keenan
Fidelity SecureDriveLions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Erich Cronje, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horne, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Kelly Mpeku.