Kearneys’ Four-Try Salvo Is Not Enough As Leinster Lose To Glasgow

Glasgow Warriors reclaimed top spot in Conference A of the GUINNESS PRO14 with a fantastic five-try 39-24 win over fellow table toppers Leinster at the RDS.

Replacement George Horne’s 80th-minute intercept try put the seal on Glasgow’s first victory at the Dublin venue since September 2011, as they edged back ahead of Munster at the Conference’s summit in the battle for a home semi-final. They have a three-point lead heading into their home derby against Edinburgh in the final round in two weeks’ time.

The Kearney brothers, Dave and Rob, scored two tries each for Leinster, who are already confirmed as Conference B winners. Captained by Sean O’Brien ahead of his summer move to London Irish, the hosts trailed 18-12 at half-time with Sam Johnson and Tommy Seymour swapping tries with the Kearneys, and Adam Hastings kicking eight points.

Robbie Henshaw got 58 minutes under his belt and fellow returnee Devin Toner played the full game ahead of Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulouse next week. They looked set for a hard-fought win when the Kearneys struck again in the third quarter, but Glasgow displayed their own brotherly love with Matt and Zander Fagerson both touching down before Horne had the final say in Leinster’s first home defeat in any tournament since Benetton Rugby won here last April.

Despite losing out-half Ross Byrne to the sin-bin for an early tackle on Seymour as the winger dribbled through into the Leinster 22, it was 14-man Leinster who landed the opening try. Replying to Hasting’s fourth-minute penalty, Jamison Gibson-Park’s long looping pass was gathered by Dave Kearney who jinked inside Stuart Hogg to register a five-pointer from close range.

The visitors edged ahead at 6-5 thanks to a straightforward Hastings penalty, and they followed up with a classic breakaway try. Ali Price slipped clean through from a ruck and passed out the back door for the supporting Johnson to sprint the final 40 metres to the line, bouncing off Byrne’s last-ditch tackle to finish emphatically.

The elder Kearney hit back five minutes before the interval, Toner and the home pack wearing down the Warriors through 30-plus phases before the full-back initially fumbled a Byrne pass over Niko Matawalu’s head but successfully reclaimed it to score his first Leinster try since scoring against the same opposition in September 2016.

Byrne’s conversion made it a one-point game at 13-12, only for Dave Rennie’s side to score right on half-time when Seymour went over in the right corner from a cracking lofted pass by stand-off Hastings. Boosted by the introduction of an all-international front row from the bench, Leinster went back in front when half-backs Gibson-Park and Byrne passed to the blindside of a ruck for Rob Kearney to reach over in the 51st minute.

The margin was out to six points after Jordan Larmour’s jinking run caused problems for the Scots’ defence, Rob Kearney provided the link and his younger brother shrugged off Matawalu’s challenge to complete his own brace on the hour mark. However, Glasgow were only 24-18 in arrears and soon showed exactly why they are the Championship’s form team with 34 points out of a possible 35 won in the last seven rounds.

Hastings’ conversion reclaimed the lead following number 8 Matt Fagerson’s try from a well-executed 64th-minute lineout maul, and his tighthead-playing sibling drove in low to join him on the scoresheet after a series of pick-and-goes with eight minutes remaining. The bonus point score was converted by Hastings who finished with 14 points following Horne’s interception of a Hugh O’Sullivan pass.

Speaking in the aftermath of the game, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said: “It’s a horrible feeling. We lost a home game last year to Treviso. The home form has been good. Glasgow, we knew it was going to be a tough test for our guys today. There were some good bits in the game, there’s a lot of positives from our side, from the game.

“But there were times we made it easy for Glasgow. They’re a very good team. Overall we’re pretty gutted to lose. We chop and change the team quite a bit, so just that bit of cohesion is a challenge. It’s a great experience for a lot of guys who come into the team – Jack Dunne there making his first start, I thought he had a lot of big moments in the game.

“A number of guys are just starting off their careers, even Will Connors coming off the bench today for his first game of the season. He’s the 56th player we’ve used this year. We obviously had Dev and Robbie coming back in, and we changed the full front row at half-time. It was good for those guys to get some time as well.

“We’re just building and building. We’re where we want to be, in the two semi-finals. And today is a good reminder for us what losing feels like. It’s pretty miserable in the dressing room at the moment. Nobody enjoys that feeling, so yeah, it’s a good reminder for us.”

He added: “Robbie’s got through 60-odd minutes, similar to Sean O’Brien, and they’ll be good to go, we hope, for next week. There were a couple of guys with bangs and bruises. It was a pretty physical game. We’ll get guys assessed tomorrow – we’ve a slightly longer week – but hopefully nothing too serious.

“The group are very fresh at the moment, at this stage of the season. Overall they have been managed incredibly well, so we should have lots of energy in the tank for the challenges that lie ahead. We’ve tried to manage the group well, some guys have had a bit of time off, some guys have been doing some training behind the scenes.

“We’ve a couple of injuries that have been well documented. But overall, the heath of the group is very, very good. It’s been about conserving energy so that we’re ready to give everything on the days that really, really matter, and one of those days is coming next Sunday against Toulouse, which is going to be a great challenge for our guys.”