The Leo Cullen verdict on Sam Prendergast as Leinster land first win of the season

Leinster closed out their first win of the new United Rugby Championship season as they beat Cardiff 29-5 on their return to the Laya Arena in Dublin.

Hugo Keenan scored Leinster’s opening try in the ninth minute when he chased his own kick down the line, before Cardiff saw Aled Davies sent to the sin bin for having his hands in the ruck. The yellow card proved costly as Jimmy O’Brien and Jack Conan both powered over in the space of two minutes.

Mason Grady got Cardiff on the board in the 25th minute, taking down a cross-field kick into the corner from Callum Sheedy. O’Brien then touched down Leinster’s fourth following another swift break to secure a bonus point just ahead of half-time, with the try converted from out wide by Sam Prendergast for a 22-5 lead.

Leinster – who had lost both of their opening games in Johannesburg and Durban – were forced into some strong defensive work as Cardiff looked to regroup in the early stages of the second half.

Cardiff – having beaten Scarlets and Zebre in their previous two fixtures – almost added another try on the break when Taine Basham looked to race clear having intercepted a loose Leinster pass, but Keenan produced a great recovery run to get back and make a saving tackle.

United Rugby Championship

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Edinburgh

3

3

0

0

14

2

Glasgow

3

2

0

1

13

3

Bulls

3

2

1

0

11

4

Stormers

3

2

1

0

11

5

Sharks

3

2

1

0

10

6

Cardiff Rugby

3

2

1

0

9

7

Lions

3

2

1

0

9

8

Dragons RFC

3

1

1

1

9

9

Munster

3

1

1

1

9

10

Leinster

3

1

2

0

8

11

Ulster

3

0

1

2

8

12

Scarlets

3

1

2

0

7

13

Ospreys

3

1

2

0

6

14

Connacht

3

1

2

0

5

15

Benetton

3

0

2

1

5

16

Zebre

3

0

3

0

1

Leinster – playing a first competitive fixture at the 20,500-capacity venue in Merrion Road, having spent two seasons across at the Aviva Stadium during the redevelopment – made sure there would be no late drama when Jamie Osborne powered through with four minutes left and Prendergast again slotted over the extras.

“Lots of good stuff in the first half. Unfortunately, at the start of the second half we don’t put on much of a show, it gets a bit disjointed,” said Leinster head coach Leo Cullen after the game.

“The big challenge is when you have so many players coming back in for the first game of the season, it just looks like lads haven’t played in a while. But we stuck at it, defended well, scrambled well on lots of different stages and got over towards the end.

“It’s a start, a really positive start. But we just need to work at getting better across the board. We’ve used 40 players in three rounds. Cohesion is not there where we would ideally like it to be, but we just need to keep working at that.

“Three games done, we’ve done a trip to South Africa. It’s great to get a bonus point win.”

Cullen praised the performance of Prendergast, who had a tour-de-force at ten, having a direct hand in several of Leinster’s tries, even if his goal-kicking radar was a little off.

“He’s just building all the time. That’s what we’ve been saying for the last few years,” noted Cullen.

“He’s a really positive mindset, wants to keep getting better at all aspects of his game. Once you have young players that are like that, they will get better. That’s the main thing.

“We all have to be patient. As young players, particularly in a critical position like that, playing at 10, there are so many moving parts to manage. He’s getting better all the time and we want to continue the growth of all our young players,” said Cullen.

Press Association, additional reporting RugbyPass