Leinster Rugby v Dragons

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