Leinster Still In The Hunt
Leinster’s hopes of making the Heineken Cup’s last-eight remained alive on Saturday as Brian O’Driscoll scored two tries in his first full 80 minutes of rugby since June.
…Brian O’Driscoll celebrating his second try at the RDS which handed Leinster a 39-10 lead…
Leinster’s hopes of making the Heineken Cup’s last-eight remained alive on Saturday as Brian O’Driscoll scored two tries in his first full 80 minutes of rugby since June.
HEINEKEN CUP: POOL 5: Saturday, January 14
LEINSTER 46 GLASGOW 22, The RDS (Att: 12,443)
Scorers: Leinster: Cameron Jowitt 2, Shane Horgan, Girvan Dempsey, Felipe Contepomi, Brian O’Driscoll 2, Denis Hickie; Contepomi 3
Glasgow: Tries: Rory Lamont, Mike Roberts, John Barclay; Cons: Dan Parks, Colin Gregor; Pen: Parks
The victory keeps the Irish province on course for one of two best-placed runners-up spots, but they will need to garner at least four points from next Sunday’s trip to Pool Five leaders Bath to book a quarter-final berth.
An RDS crowd of 12,443 looked on as bottom-of-the-table Glasgow, who had only pride to play for, shared out 11 tries with Michael Cheika’s side. It would have been more had Felipe Contepomi brought his kicking boots – the Argentinian star missed five out of eight conversions, but of more importance, Leinster grabbed a bonus point that pulls them within six points of Bath.
The hosts did most of the damage in the first half – Cameron Jowitt (2), Shane Horgan, Girvan Dempsey and Contepomi all crossed in the first 40 minutes. O’Driscoll grabbed his brace late in the second half, with Denis Hickie adding the eighth in injury-time.
Plucky Glasgow deserved more for their performance – winger Rory Lamont scored a scintillating intercept try in the first half, but it was only in a ragged final few minutes that further tries came for the Scots from Mike Roberts and John Barclay.
A thunderous lineout drive saw Samoan flanker Jowitt plunge over for Leinster’s first try on 7 minutes. Fly-half Contepomi drilled the conversion attempt wide and also missed the extras of Horgan’s try, which saw the winger outmuscle Lamont for the right corner.
The Scottish international got his revenge on 22 minutes when he gathered a loose pass from O’Driscoll over halfway and Lamont flew past the tackles of the aforementioned Leinster skipper, Dempsey, Horgan and D’Arcy to score under the posts.
Dan Parks converted and while full-back Dempsey crowned his 100th appearance for Leinster with a subsequent try, a 34th-minute penalty from Parks kept Glasgow in contention at 15-10 down.
Leinster, however, managed to tag on another 10 points before the break as both Contepomi and Jowitt, who was making his first Heineken Cup start, crossed the whitewash. They were aided in injury-time when Glasgow’s Barclay was yellow carded for preventing a quick ruck release.
O’Driscoll broke the stalemate after the restart. With the bonus point already in the bag, O’Driscoll won the race to Contepomi’s 54th-minute chip through to score his first try since dislocating his right shoulder on the Lions tour.
Contepomi added the conversion to hearty cheers for a 32-10 lead. That’s the way it stayed until 78 minutes when, after Leinster prop Reggie Corrigan had been sin-binned for going off his feet at a ruck, O’Driscoll brilliantly side-stepped around Glasgow captain Jon Petrie to display some of his old magic and score.
Three tries followed in injury-time as first, Roberts claimed a kick to the left corner from replacement flanker Gregor Hayter to score. Then Hickie latched on to a loose ball to go under the posts and Barclay closed out the scoring from a close range drive.
TIMELINE: 7 minutes – Leinster try: Keith Gleeson – 5-0; conversion: missed – 5-0; 18 mins – Leinster try: Shane Horgan – 10-0; conversion: missed – 10-0; 22 mins – Glasgow try: Rory Lamont – 10-5; conversion: Dan Parks – 10-7; 27 mins – Leinster try: Girvan Dempsey – 15-7; conversion: missed – 15-7; 34 mins – Glasgow penalty: Dan Parks – 15-10; 37 mins – Leinster try: Felipe Contepomi – 20-10; conversion: missed – 20-10; 40+3 mins – Glasgow yellow card: John Barclay; 40+4 mins – Leinster try: Cameron Jowitt – 25-10; conversion: missed – 25-10; Half-time – Leinster 25 Glasgow 10; 54 mins – Leinster try: Brian O’Driscoll – 30-10; conversion: Felipe Contepomi – 32-10; 76 mins – Leinster yellow card: Reggie Corrigan; 78 mins – Leinster try: Brian O’Driscoll – 37-10; conversion: Felipe Contepomi – 39-10; 80(+1) mins – Glasgow try: Mike Roberts – 39-15; conversion: missed – 39-15; 80(+3) mins – Leinster try: Denis Hickie – 44-15; conversion: Felipe Contepomi – 46-15; 80(+7) mins – Glasgow try: John Barclay – 46-20; conversion: Colin Gregor – 46-22; Full-time – Leinster 46 Glasgow 22
LEINSTER: Girvan Dempsey; Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Gordon D’Arcy, Denis Hickie; Felipe Contepomi, Guy Easterby; Reggie Corrigan, Brian Blaney, Emmett Byrne, Bryce Williams, Malcolm O’Kelly, Cameron Jowitt, Keith Gleeson, Eric Miller.
Replacements used: Niall Ronan for Jowitt (half-time), Ronan McCormack for Byrne (65), David Blaney for B Blaney, Kieran Lewis for Horgan, Robert Kearney for Dempsey, Brian O’Riordan for Easterby, Adam Byrnes for O’Kelly (all 74), Emmett Byrne for Corrigan (80+5).
GLASGOW: Graydon Staniforth; Hefin O’Hare, Graeme Morrison, Andrew Henderson, Rory Lamont; Dan Parks, Graeme Beveridge; Kevin Tkachuk, Scott Lawson, Euan Murray, Dan Turner, Craig Hamilton, Steve Swindall, John Barclay, Jon Petrie (capt).
Replacements used: Tim Barker for Turner, Fergus Thomson for Lawson, Mike Roberts for Staniforth (all half-time), Sam Pinder for Beveridge (57), Gregor Hayter for Swindall, Colin Gregor for Parks (both 65), Lee Harrison for Barker (69).
Referee: Joel Jutge (France)