LEINSTER 57-3 MONTPELLIER
Leinster are back in the big time and are the first side in the hat for the Champions Cup quarter finals.
This time last year and Leinster were recording their one and only win of a worryingly poor pool stage campaign. They were well beaten in their other five games and eliminated before Christmas.
If one had told you, at the start of the season, that Leo Cullen would have Rory O’Loughlin and Adam Byrne in his back three, you might have feared a similar wrench through the wringer.
Both wingers, aged 22, are now regular starters and do not look an inch out of place at the elite level. Montpellier may have been hindered by the 25th minute red card for Francois Steyn but Byrne and O’Loughlin were already tormenting them at that stage.
They backed themselves from the start and had the backing and trust of their senior teammates. It was a joy to watch as they probed then punched through French lines all night at a Baltic RDS.
Leinster were two tries to the good – a well executed Isa Nacewa try and a Jack Conan score that was all down to the Fijian – when Sexton took the upteenth late, high hit in his career. Outhalves can expect such treatment but Steyn’s hit was not on and could have easily concussed Sexton.
By the time Sexton returned from a successful Head Injury Assessment, Byrne had put Leinster 24-3 up with a try that was converted by Ross Byrne.
Byrne raided Montpellier up the right wing and traded passes with Conan before scoring in the corner. It was Byrne’s eight try in nine games this season and it capped off an impressive half.
Adam Byrne's 1st half
5 carries
79 metres gained
2 clean breaks
2 defenders beaten
1 TRY pic.twitter.com/IRuwzKlZ71— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 13, 2017
Byrne finished the game with 101 metres gained off nine carries with four line breaks and three defenders beaten. O’Loughlin had 77 metres of gains off 12 carries and that included three line breaks.
Leinster finished with the bonus point and eight tries – a hat-trick for Conan – as Montpellier lost the will to care less. Leinster were home and hosed when Conan got the second of his three and there were further scores for Cian Healy, Luke McGrath and Garry Ringrose.
Leinster are looking good and back in the last eight. A win at Castres next week and they will have a quarter final clash at the Aviva Stadium, in April, to plan for.
By that stage, don’t be surprised if Byrne and O’Loughlin have been in for some training – matches even – with Joe Schmidt’s Ireland. He likes the Leinster lads after all.
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