Sexton injury means Leinster's crushing win at Northampton comes at a cost
Johnny Sexton’s second-half injury cast a shadow over Leinster’s storming 43-16 Champions Cup win over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens. The Ireland fly-half went off four minutes into the second half with what appeared to be a right knee problem.
But with Jordan Larmour in sparkling form Leinster absorbed the loss of Sexton to run out comfortable winners. Northampton’s first meaningful test in pursuit of a quarter-final spot ended in a seven-try defeat that places them under pressure for the return fixture in Dublin next weekend.
The Premiership leaders had been superb until colliding with Leinster, catching the eye with an attacking style that was matched by results in the form of six wins from seven outings.
But they were taught a lesson in European rugby by the four-time champions who fielded greater firepower in most departments and who were able to call on a watertight defence to contain Northampton’s assault in the final half-hour.
A seventh win in eight meetings between the rivals places Leinster in full control of Pool One. It took only 131 seconds for Leinster to draw first blood as they pounced on a Northampton mistake in midfield with full-back Larmour tearing downfield before sending James Lowe over.
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Clean lineout ball enabled Saints to respond as Ahsee Tuala and Teimana Harrison made big carries through the middle and, when the move swept left, quick hands ended with Tuala diving over in the right corner.
Larmour’s scorching start continued as he took Sexton’s clever inside ball and stepped his way into space, offering scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park sight of the line only for Cobus Reinach to capitalise on a moment’s hesitation with a covering tackle.
Leinster were not to be denied however and, after several surges, Rhys Ruddock forced his way over. Dan Biggar’s accuracy from the kicking tee, combined with his cunning break-up field, helped Northampton regain the lead against the run of play – but they were unable to score again.
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After a bright spell from Saints, when they profited from being more direct, Leinster built pressure once more and their power from close range was irresistible as prop Andrew Porter burrowed a path through the home pack.
The second-half opened with another searing run from Larmour and his injection of pace was the prelude to waves of forward carries that ended when Cian Healy touched down.
It was the worst possible start to the second half for Saints and they were in danger of being blown away as the European heavyweights immediately renewed their attack through Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw.
Is there any way back for @SaintsRugby? ?@leinsterrugby are running them ragged at Franklin's Gardens…#HeinekenChampionsCup https://t.co/bT3gIGcn10
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 7, 2019
This time Ross Byrne was on hand to finish and to compound home misery co-captain Alex Waller was sent to the sin-bin for a shove from behind moments before the try was scored.
Sexton’s exit failed to affect Irish momentum but a setback did arrive in the form of a yellow card for Ringrose for his tip-tackle on Biggar, who had recovered from a toe injury to take his place at fly-half.
Leinster’s defence held firm as Northampton cranked up the intensity but a series of handling errors at key moments proved costly, while even giant wing Taqele Naiyaravoro was unable to make any impression.
Ireland lock James Ryan limped off but it made no odds as additional blows were landed when replacements Luke McGrath and Ed Byrne touched down.
– Press Association
WATCH: RugbyPass goes behind the scenes at the 2018 Guinness PRO14 final featuring Leinster and Scarlets at Aviva Stadium
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments