Leinster Suffer Chastening European Exit At Hands Of Saracens

Leinster bowed out of the Heineken Champions Cup to an Alex Goode-inspired Saracens, falling to a disappointing 25-17 quarter-final defeat at the Aviva Stadium.

As It Happened: Leinster v Saracens Live Blog

Recovering from a nightmare first half which saw them fall 22-3 behind, tries from Andrew Porter (48 minutes) and Jordan Larmour (61) sparked the best out of Leinster as they made it a five-point game.

Ryan Baird, one of three Champions Cup debutants for the hosts, was part of a strong bench effort, but a last-minute penalty from Goode ended the Guinness PRO14 champions’ double dreams and booked a semi-final trip to Racing 92 for Sarries.

With Covid-19 restrictions robbing this heavyweight clash of any crowd, Goode quickly made an impact with three central penalties inside 11 minutes. The best of them was from 42 metres out as the visitors built a 9-3 lead.

Jonathan Sexton sandwiched in a meaty response from the left wing, rewarding the breakdown work of busy tighthead Porter. However, the province’s best first-quarter assault was foiled by a Maro Itoje interception.

Sarries were defending astutely to keep Leinster contained near halfway and after South African prop Vincent Koch drove Cian Healy backwards for a 24th-minute scrum penalty, Elliot Daly’s brilliant booming kick put nine points between the sides.

The pair combined again soon after, Daly drilling over from distance after another powerful Sarries set-piece. Leinster blew a big maul opportunity approaching half-time, Sarries leaking a series of penalties but clearing the danger with a turnover and another scrum penalty.

The defending European champions then went for the jugular four minutes before the break. Duncan Taylor deftly drew in two defenders and offloaded for Goode to slice through from 25 metres out and score past Hugo Keenan’s last-ditch tackle.

The reigning European Player of the Year, who starred at out-half in the absence of the suspended Owen Farrell, also converted to push the gap out to 19 points, leaving a struggling Leinster in serious trouble.

Daly failed with a late 63-metre penalty attempt and the England full-back missed an early second-half drop goal before Leinster finally seized some control of proceedings.

It was much more like it from Leo Cullen’s men when Porter, with support from James Ryan, drove in underneath the posts at the end of some energetic phases. Sexton took the hosts into double figures but Sarries’ physical defence managed to keep out further attempts.

That was until the hour mark when Sexton was caught high by Mike Rhodes, the penalty leading to a quick switch back to midfield where Sexton’s early pass put Larmour outside Alex Lewington and in close to the posts for a rallying seven-pointer.

Rhodes, the eventual Heineken star-of-the-match, redeemed himself with some key interventions, and despite Goode and Daly suffering penalty misses, Leinster crucially coughed up possession when trying to break from deep.

It was left to Goode to steer over a clinching penalty from the right wing, completing his handsome 19-point haul. A week on from their PRO14 triumph, Leinster came up short in a number of areas – particularly the scrum – as Sarries became the first team to beat them in 26 games.

Giving his reaction after a disappointing end to their 2019/20 campaign, Cullen said: “I just thought we got a little bit spooked pretty much from the kick-off, we don’t quite deal with it and Saracens score. We struggled to get ourselves into the game and we played right into their hands in many ways.

“It comes back to that mentality that we know they have…3, 6, 9, 12 (points) – and we handed them those opportunities. On those long ones, Elliot Daly did well to slot them over from 50-metres-plus. They’re all things we were aware of coming into the match but we couldn’t quite deal with it.

“Saracens, you go through their team and they have a hell of a lot of top-level experience and they probably managed the big occasion better. It’s a big occasion. I know there’s not a crowd here but it’s still a big occasion.

“We’ve had the distraction of the PRO14 semi-final and final over the last couple of weeks and they had a very singular focus. These games come down to small margins and we didn’t get enough right in the first half and we dug ourselves into a pretty big hole.

“The guys showed character in the second half but we couldn’t do enough to get out of it. They have a power element to their team and their game, and we couldn’t do enough really, to be honest. That’s the big thing we need to fix for some of these big games against the top teams in Europe.”

He added: “It’s classic cup rugby – pressure, pressure game (from the box-kicks). Set-piece dominance, which I think Saracens clearly edged that side of the game.

“Off the back of that then, once you have got a lead, for them it’s about making sure they get into the semi-final. If you have got a lead, you are trying to protect it at all costs. The problem for us was that we were chasing the lead.”