Leinster Pull Clear Of Connacht To Complete Festive Derby Hat-Trick
Racking up 33 unanswered second half points, Leinster ran out convincing 52-17 winners over Connacht at the Aviva Stadium where a crowd of 21,722 watched the provinces go head-to-head.
It was the last of the festive interprovincial derbies, and Leo Cullen’s charges completed a hat-trick of victories during this period to move within a point of the BKT United Rugby Championship’s top four.
It was a testing closing 40 minutes for Connacht, who had recovered well to lead 17-14 thanks to tries from Dylan Tierney-Martin and Finlay Bealham, but they had no answer to the hosts powering through the gears after the break.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Dan Sheehan, who captained Leinster on Saturday night and scored their opening try, said: “It is something we’ve talked about, something I wanted to sort of address during the week, was let’s see if we can play to spaces.
“We’ve seen pictures where we might have kicked the ball and there is space to play, and it’s not the wrong option, but can we give it a shot by playing, keep the ball, and then keep the pressure on.
“So it was really nice and it was enjoyable to play that sort of game there where obviously sometimes you’re going to have to kick it, but if we saw the space, I thought we took it well and finished off and put them under pressure while retaining the ball.
“So I thought that was good, and I thought it was just the focus we put on during the week and how we trained it and if you probably look at our training during the week, you could have seen it.”
Connacht, who have fallen to twelfth in the table, will have a chance to gain revenge in the rematch at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday, January 24, when they will be backed by a big home crowd as the redeveloped Clan Stand is officially opened.
“Not a lot of fun, to be honest,” admitted Stuart Lancaster, the westerners’ head coach, following the disappointing defeat in Dublin. “I’ve seen it happen, not many times, but Leinster when they’re in the flow and you play at the Aviva or even at the RDS as well, they’re a hard team to stop.
“When I went to sleep Friday night I was hoping we’d play like we did for that 30-minute period for the 80 minutes, but we didn’t and I’m fully committed to what I’m doing at Connacht.
“I know it’s a completely different project but Connacht should be applauded for what they’ve done off the field in terms of building a new High Performance Centre, building a new stand.
“But when I’m coaching the young lads at Connacht, they’re not at the same level as the development of these Leinster lads like Charlie Tector, Hugh Cooney…they were training with the senior squad three years ago when I was there (at Leinster).
“So they’ve had three more years of experience whereas I’m four months in, five months in, coaching Billy Bohan or Fiachna Barrett or Harry West, or all these lads, and I’ll do everything I can to pass on what I’ve learned from my Leinster period.
“It was painful today but I still love the place, I still love the people, but I’ll be even more determined to try and get it right for the home game (in Galway in three weeks’ time), for sure.”