Leinster Rugby v Dragons
Leinster Rugby v Dragons, Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup | Issue 13 Leinster Rugby Official Matchday Programme Friday 11th June, 2021 | Kick-off: 20:15
Leinster Rugby v Dragons, Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup | Issue 13
Leinster Rugby Official Matchday Programme
Friday 11th June, 2021 | Kick-off: 20:15
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ONE FROM<br />
The Vaults<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> 35 <strong>Dragons</strong> 5<br />
Guinness PRO14 | RDS Arena | 2 October 2020 | Ref: Andrea Piardi<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> <strong>Rugby</strong> opened their defence<br />
of the Guinness PRO14 title earlier<br />
this season with a five-try defeat of<br />
<strong>Dragons</strong> at the RDS Arena.<br />
First half-tries from Garry Ringrose, Jordan<br />
Larmour and James Lowe as well as successful<br />
conversions from three different kickers helped<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> to a 21-0 lead at the break.<br />
They followed that up with two further efforts,<br />
a Lowe second as well as another from<br />
replacement Ryan Baird, just minutes after his<br />
introduction.<br />
The Irish province nearly opened the scoring<br />
with Johnny Sexton’s grubber giving Hugo<br />
Keenan an outside chance at winning the race<br />
to the line, the full-back beating Jonah Holmes<br />
to the pounce, only to lose control of the ball.<br />
The combined work of No 8 Ross Moriarty<br />
from the base of the scrum and Rhodri Williams<br />
from the boot took play up towards halfway.<br />
When Michael Bent could not hold onto<br />
Jamison Gibson-Park’s fizzing service, <strong>Dragons</strong><br />
had field position. But, <strong>Leinster</strong>’s linespeed<br />
forced <strong>Dragons</strong> backwards and their out-half<br />
Sam Davies into kicking in behind.<br />
Then, the Welsh club outfoxed <strong>Leinster</strong>, refusing<br />
to engage in a maul to swindle a turnover<br />
scrum for accidental obstruction. They were<br />
hunting points when hooker Rónan Kelleher’s<br />
counter-ruck led to a relieving penalty.<br />
A burst from Kelleher and a touch of creativity<br />
from Lowe down the left was eventually undone<br />
by Lowe’s inaccurate follow-up pass to Tommy<br />
O’Brien.<br />
Then, Lowe popped up to take Sexton’s nolook<br />
pass up the middle, the speed of the ball<br />
causing consternation. Jamie Roberts took<br />
O’Brien too high, for what was soon deemed<br />
to be a yellow card, and Garry Ringrose<br />
strolled over for the first try, Sexton converting<br />
for 7-0 in the 18th minute.<br />
LEINSTER:<br />
Hugo Keenan; Jordan<br />
Larmour, Garry<br />
Ringrose, Ciarán<br />
Frawley (Tommy O’Brien<br />
9), James Lowe; Johnny<br />
Sexton (Ross Byrne 23),<br />
Jamison Gibson-Park<br />
(Luke McGrath 67); Ed<br />
Byrne (Cian Healy 49),<br />
Rónan Kelleher (Seán<br />
Cronin 49), Michael<br />
Bent (Andrew Porter<br />
49); Scott Fardy, James<br />
Ryan; Rhys Ruddock,<br />
Josh van der Flier,<br />
Jack Conan (Max<br />
Deegan 49).<br />
DRAGONS:<br />
Will Talbot-Davies;<br />
Jonah Holmes, Nick<br />
Tompkins, Jamie Roberts<br />
(Adam Warren 71),<br />
Ashton Hewitt; Sam<br />
Davies, Rhodri Williams<br />
(Travis Knoyle 67); Brok<br />
Harris (Conor Maguire<br />
62), Elliot Dee (Richard<br />
Hibbard 70), Aaron<br />
Jarvis (Lloyd Fairbrother<br />
41); Joseph Davies, Joe<br />
Maksymiw (Matthew<br />
Screech 49); Aaron<br />
Wainwright, Harrison<br />
Keddie (Taine Basham<br />
63), Ross Moriarty.<br />
From the restart, <strong>Leinster</strong> went into overdrive,<br />
moving the ball from touchline to touchline,<br />
punching through 23 rapid-fire phases with<br />
Sexton’s long, looping pass enabling Larmour<br />
to touch down in the 23rd minute. Ringrose<br />
added the sideline conversion as Sexton was<br />
replaced by Ross Byrne.<br />
The pressure from James Ryan was enough to<br />
cause Joseph Davies to spill a lineout before<br />
Kelleher’s nuisance value hampered Rhodri<br />
Williams and Josh van der Flier seized on<br />
a loose ball. Ross Byrne’s punt forward and<br />
Keenan’s chase was just about foiled by the<br />
work-rate of Aaron Wainwright.<br />
The tide of possession was washing over the<br />
<strong>Dragons</strong>, a rare van der Flier mistake releasing<br />
the pressure. Lowe’s footwork, Ringrose’s mazy<br />
run and blurring hands created the overlap for<br />
Lowe to snap up the third try, Byrne converting<br />
from the left touchline for 21-0 on 33 minutes.<br />
Second row Ryan made up for conceding a<br />
penalty when snatching a five-metre lineout<br />
away from Wainwright. At last, it looked like<br />
Sam Davies was about to hit back from Jonah<br />
Holmes’ set-up until he lost his feet and the ball<br />
from O’Brien’s super-flexible poach.<br />
The <strong>Dragons</strong> had to make something happen<br />
or risk becoming completely detached on the<br />
scoreboard. They scrapped away for almost<br />
the length of the third quarter, making a better<br />
fist of gaining territory.<br />
Nick Tompkins took on Ringrose in contact<br />
and Cian Healy was penalised for <strong>Dragons</strong> to<br />
apply lineout pressure which Ryan shut down.<br />
At the other end, <strong>Leinster</strong> went up the guts of a<br />
maul from Sean Cronin’s throw to Scott Fardy,<br />
the ball transferred left for Lowe to hold-off<br />
Holmes into the left corner to seal the bonuspoint,<br />
Byrne stitching on the conversion in the<br />
57th minute.<br />
Before long, the penetration of Roberts and<br />
hooker Elliot Dee provided the space on the<br />
From The Ground Up | 58 | www.leinsterrugby.ie