Second-half Leinster power surge proves too much for Sale
On a day when the Stormers struck at the death in Cape Town to win 21-20 and condemn defending champions La Rochelle to another Pool 4 defeat six days after they lost at home in France to Leinster, the Irish province took over pole position in the group with a hard-fought 37-27 win over Sale in Dublin.
In making 11 changes to their starting XV after eventually getting the better of Stade Francais in Manchester, including the resting of England pair George Ford and Manu Tuilagi, the Sharks arrived looking toothless and seemingly with both eyes firmly on hosting Saracens at the AJ Bell next Friday in the league.
That defeatist impression was off the mark, however, as some true northern English grit made this an engrossing, result-in-the-balance encounter for about an hour or so.
The visitors had the temerity to lead 13-3 during the first half and despite their scrum painfully malfunctioning, costing them points and a yellow card, they were still two points up at the break and good value for that 13-11 advantage.
In the end, they were found out by Leinster’s second-half power surge which consisted of four tries and the punishment on the scoreboard would have been worse than 10 points but for late, late consolation tries from Tommy Taylor and Tom Curtis with the hosts downs to 13 with Hugo Keenan in the bin and no one left on the bench to replace the injured Charlie Ngatai.
That flourish, though, wasn’t enough to earn the bonus-pointless Sale anything other than some pride. They had started threateningly from the first whistle, Aaron Reed nearly making it over at the corner before Leinster had Robbie Henshaw sin-binned by referee Pierre Brousset for deliberately knocking on a pass from Connor Doherty to Telusa Veainu with the line approaching.
The visitors opted for the posts, Rob du Preez landing the fourth-minute kick, but the English team was soon in trouble at the scrum, an infringement costing them the territory that culminated in Josh van der Flier barrelling over for a try that was disallowed due to a knock-on by Ryan Baird in the lead-up.
A second James Harper scrum concession then resulted in Baird getting held up over the line after a Leinster tap and go, Ben Bamber getting the credit for the intervention, but the Sale second row was then at fault for the not rolling away penalty that allowed Ciaran Frawley to tie the scores at three-all with the Henshaw sin-bin over.
Curiously, it was with the contest now restored to 15 versus 15 that Leinster fell into even greater arrears than before. Initially, their backs strayed offside when rushing Sale possession from a scrum and du Preez punished this with penalty points.
Sale optimism was then further inflated when Harper won a penalty at a scrum in his team’s 22 and after possession was kicked out for a halfway throw, a crafty Raffi Quirke grubber fractured the Leinster defence with du Preez grabbing the bouncing ball and timing the pass to perfection to send in Doherty for the converted 25th minute try as a 13-3 advantage.
Leinster had a respite from another creaky Sale scrum, Frawley again on point from the kicking tee five minutes later, and the home fans also appreciated Tom Roebuck losing grasp of the ball when double tackled five metres from the line. Then came the sin-binning of Harper three minutes before the interval following another scrum mishap versus Andrew Porter – and it was costly.
A Dan Sheehan break scattered the Sale defence down the left before Jordan Larmour was high tackled on the right by Quirke and from the penalty kicked to touch, Leinster mauled their way over with van der Flier getting the try he had been denied in the early stages.
Sale still exited ahead on the scoreboard 13-11 after Frawley missed the touchline conversion but that joy was short-lived as less than three minutes of the second period was played when Roebuck was given the slip on halfway by van der Flier and the flanker galloped away and drew the remaining cover before giving Jamison Gibson-Park the try-assist pass for a 16-13 lead.
Connor Doherty secures the evening's first try to delight his @SaleSharksRugby teammates! ?#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/7UuJjyKkSw
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) December 16, 2023
Next, unnecessary Jonny Hill antics on the ground near halfway with van der Flier within a minute of his introduction from the bench sparked the pressure for the third Leinster try, repeated pick-and-go eventually ushering Henshaw in at the posts on 56 minutes and Frawley converted for 23-13.
Minus their tackle king Ernst van Rhyn, who needed a HIA, Sale now looked somewhat ragged and Leinster’s bonus point try arrived six minutes later, Baird making amends for his first-half handling error near the line by getting over for a score added to by Frawley.
The margin had now grown to a chasm with Leo Cullen’s team 30-13 up and it extended even more, sub Cian Healy joining in the try-scoring fun 10 minutes from time, a score converted by young Sam Prendergast.
However, rather than Leinster trooping off 37-13 winners, late converted Sale tries from Taylor and Curtis left the margin of defeat at a more palatable 10 points.
A lovely passage of play from @leinsterrugby as Jamison Gibson-Park puts them in front ??#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/EsqXsxq3V9
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) December 16, 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments