Four-Try Lowe On Fire As Leinster End Connacht’s European Run

Leinster blew Connacht away with a 56-20 win at the Aviva Stadium – winning 82-41 on aggregate – to set up a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final trip to Leicester Tigers.

James Lowe helped himself to four tries and Robbie Henshaw bagged a brace, as Leo Cullen’s men move on to face Leicester, the 56-27 aggregate winners over Clermont Auvergne, in three weeks’ time.

Jamison Gibson-Park, who had his citing for a high tackle from the first leg dismissed, started the try-scoring as Leinster ruthlessly opened up a 28-3 half-time lead.

Connacht captain Jack Carty’s early penalty was cancelled out by converted scores from Gibson-Park, Henshaw, Tadhg Furlong and Lowe, the latter one coming after Bundee Aki’s sin-binning.

The blue hordes in a 32,604-strong crowd had a Good Friday to remember, with Henshaw and Lowe, the Heineken star-of-the-match, crisply adding to their tallies.

Despite a Jack Aungier yellow card, a gallant Connacht salvaged some pride with second half tries from Tiernan O’Halloran, Sam Arnold and Abraham Papali’i.

The visitors immediately ate into their five-point deficit from last week’s game Galway. Cian Prendergast was quickest to the breakdown and Carty knocked over the penalty.

The Connacht out-half frustratingly pulled a penalty wide soon after, and Leinster duly thundered clear in the 10th minute.

Henshaw and Josh Murphy led a slick surge down the right wing, linking inside with Lowe who fed Gibson-Park to go over untouched. Captain Jonathan Sexton converted from the right.

Henshaw shrugged off his Ireland team-mate Aki to crash over in the 17th minute, and tighthead Furlong drove over ten minutes later to make it three converted tries.

Aki’s subsequent yellow card for a high tackle on Sexton was also punished in clinical fashion. Sexton’s lovely inside pass sent Lowe powering over for a late seven-pointer before the interval.

The floodgates were well and truly open, with Jimmy O’Brien prowling and Henshaw crossing just 59 seconds after the restart. Sexton’s right boot made it 35-3.

O’Halloran replied for Connacht, released by Carty’s delayed pass, but Aungier’s yellow for a shoulder charge on Josh van der Flier prompted uncontested scrums.

The westerners, with a groggy Finlay Bealham already replaced, had to toil away with 13 men for the next few minutes.

Sexton’s short pass unleashed Garry Ringrose from halfway and he spun the ball wide for Lowe to beat two defenders and double his contribution.

Sexton departed with a dozen points following his sixth successful conversion, but Connacht replacement Arnold soon barged over to leave it 42-13.

Lowe’s hat-trick score followed, set up by replacement Ross Byrne’s initial dummy, and the same two players combined again right at the death.

Byrne’s chip kick put Lowe over to the left of the posts after replacement Papali’i had muscled over at the other end.

Lowe became the first player to score four tries for an Irish province in a single Champions Cup match, drawing praise from head coach Cullen in the aftermath.

“He put in a good week this week, James,” commented Cullen. “He’s very, very talented as we know. When he really applies himself, he’s as good as anyone who is out there. He worked hard this week and you see the rewards he got off the back of that.

“Some good play for some of his tries, but he brings a different level in terms of the power that he has in contact. It’s a skill that he’s able to manage contact on his terms as well. It was great to see him go well over the last couple of weeks.”

While Cullen has spent most of his playing and coaching career at Leinster, he enjoyed a two-year stint as a player with Leicester Tigers between 2005 and 2007 and will relish a return to Welford Road.

In stark contrast to Cullen, Connacht head coach Andy Friend cut a frustrated figure in the aftermath of the interprovincial derby.

Connacht had edged in front with a second-minute penalty from Carty, but the hosts responded eight minutes later with Gibson-Park’s try and never looked back.

“I thought we had an opening exchange there, which was in the process of giving us a bit of confidence,” said Friend.

“Pretty much the first time Leinster touched the footie, though, they ran 75 metres and scored. All of a sudden, all of that dominance that we had and the pressure we had exerted was just released. They seemed to go from strength to strength from there.

“The message is pretty simple. A game of footie is about tackling, wanting to tackle and wanting to win physical battles. When you don’t do that, it’s very hard to win a game of football.”