A 10 point gap was opened between the teams at the top and bottom of Champions Cup pool three yesterday as Leinster followed the lead of Exeter Chiefs in using their forward power to quash Glasgow at Scotstoun.
The decisive moment came at the end of what had been a keenly contested first half when Leinster turned down the chance to kick a penalty to secure a half-time lead in favour of kicking to touch as they instead went for a try. It was an almost contemptuous decision in terms of their view of the home pack’s capacity to resist and when it was vindicated as Cian Healy powered over for his second try, they were in control of this match and the pool.
By contrast their hosts are already looking as if their involvement in Europe is all but arithmetically over as Glasgow’s head coach Dave Rennie hinted at in suggesting that they must now consider whether or not to switch focus to their domestic competition.
“It’s a pretty solemn changing room as you’d imagine, but we got out-muscled today and beaten by a better side,” he said, acknowledging that their opponents had “won the collisions,” before adding: “We’re clearly not where we want to be and it’s a tough pool as it is, so we’ll reassess things based on that and where our injuries are at and whether we’re going to prioritise the Pro14 ahead of this comp, we’ll make that decision in December.”
After a fine start to his time in Scotland, with six successive Pro14 wins, the past fortnight has clearly been as much of a learning experience for the New Zealander as it has been for his club’s callow front five forwards.
“The brutality is a massive part of the game over her and we need to be able to go through the middle of sides and to defend teams that can do that,” said Rennie.
Much pre-match attention had been on the return of hugely influential players to both teams, but it was Leinster’s who got the chance to make the first impact, Jonny Sexton knocking over an early penalty after Glasgow were telling penalised for collapsing a driving maul.
Stuart Hogg also took his first opportunity to get into the match, with a fine break deep into Leinster territory and when his side was awarded a penalty soon after Finn Russell levelled things. Better would come just three minutes later as the full-back marked his comeback with a try after Russell created an opening by looping round his centres then chipping in behind the Leinster defence. Joey Carberry, their full-back, scrambled to cover, but as he arrived at the ball just short of the line, so did Tommy Seymour’s pink boot clad right foot to hack the ball on and Hogg managed to touch down just before it ran dead. Russell converted well from wide on the right and as at Exeter the previous weekend they had reached double figures first.
The three time European champions’ response was almost identical to that of the English champions as Leinster took the first opportunity to kick to the left corner and set up a driving maul which got them in close to allow Cian Healy to work his way over for the try which Sexton converted. Glasgow’s woes then deepened with the most unfortunate of self-inflicted injuries as Wilson - who had only just returned to the field after a blood injury - and Tim Swinson clashed heads and both had to be replaced, however at least the international lock returned a few minutes later after his head injury assessment.
There was no further scoring until 40 minutes were on the clock when Leinster’s scrummaging power earned the penalty that let Sexton opt for that match defining touch-finder. He sent the ball just inside the 22 and his pack duly justified the decision, setting up a maul which proved irresistible, Healy again carrying it over the line and Sexton again converting to turn what might have been a three point half-time deficit into a seven point lead. When Sexton received a delightfully deft return pass from former Wallaby Scott Fardy to score their third try a couple of minutes after the re-start, it seemed it would be only a matter of time before they secured a second bonus point win.
To Glasgow’s credit they got themselves back within range after Hogg sent Seymour in for their second try after some sustained, high tempo, phased play and a second Russell penalty got them back within a score. Sexton, though, cancelled that out to re-establish the two score Leinster cushion with his last involvement and they remained in control until Noel Reid collected the ball on the Glasgow 22 wide on the left, cut past one man, between two more, then ran round last man Henry Pyrgos to ensure they went home with a maximum points haul.
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