Leavy Returns As Leinster Run Out Nine-Try Winners Over Zebre

Dan Leavy made his long-awaited comeback in Leinster’s runaway 63-8 Guinness PRO14 win over Zebre at the RDS.

For his first appearance since suffering a multi-ligament knee injury almost 19 months ago, the Ireland flanker was sent on for the final half-an-hour and narrowly missed out on a late try.

There was a first try for Dan Sheehan, one of Leinster’s four debutants on show, and a second for Tommy O’Brien as the hosts cantered into a 28-3 half-time lead.

Michael Bent and Dave Kearney also crossed as Zebre had a lone Paolo Pescetto penalty. They did touch down through Michelangelo Biondelli, but Harry Byrne landed all nine conversions as Sheehan, Josh Murphy, Ciaran Parker, O’Brien and Scott Penny shared out the rest of Leinster’s tries.

Handling errors blighted the early exchanges, while Zebre lost ex-Leinster lock Ian Nagle to a head injury. Leinster scored from their first trip to the visitors’ 22, captain Rhys Ruddock to the fore as good work by the forwards ended with prop Bent piling over.

Young out-half Byrne converted and also added the extras to Leinster’s second try in the 19th minute. The Zebre lineout malfunctioned close to their own line, allowing 22-year-old hooker Sheehan to gather at the rear and finish smartly.

Pescetto replied with a well-struck penalty from distance for 14-3, but Leinster were warming to their task. A clever wraparound off a maul saw Sheehan feed back inside for winger Kearney to push the lead out to 18 points.

The Italians left space around the side of a ruck in the 36th minute, allowing Luke McGrath to have a cut and lay off for the onrushing Tommy O’Brien to raid in behind the posts.

Man-of-the-match Sheehan picked from a ruck to power over just a couple of minutes into the second half. With talismanic number 8 Jimmy Tuivati also forced off, injury-hit Zebre battled on and were lifted by Marco Manfredi’s turnover penalty.

Ciaran Frawley’s clever footwork paved the way for flanker Murphy to go over from close range, and right on the hour mark, loan signing Parker proved unstoppable from fellow replacement Hugh O’Sullivan’s flat pass.

Two slick kicks from replacements Josh Renton and Antonio Rizzi – the latter dangling an inviting ball out to the right wing – unlocked the home defence for Biondelli’s well-finished 66th-minute effort.

However, Leavy was involved in some excellent handling which soon set up O’Brien’s second of the night, with his namesake Jimmy O’Brien injecting pace into the move at just the right time.

Lively flanker Penny then enjoyed a 30-metre run-in – and Leavy was inches away for his own fairytale finish. The back rower pressed from a kick down the right wing, forcing an error past the try-line, but Zebre captain Tommaso Boni just dotted down ahead of him.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen commented afterwards: “It’s fantastic to see some of those guys get an opportunity – Dan Sheehan started the game well, scored a couple of tries. Liam Turner looked good in his involvements in the game, did a lot of really positive things, and communicated really well as well.

“Ciaran Parker came off the bench along with (fellow debutant) Michael Silvester, so it’s pleasing for all of those guys.”

On Leavy’s very welcome return to action, he added: “In many ways, it feels like having a new player really, Dan’s been gone that long. The response from his team-mates says it all.

“People are genuinely delighted to see him back out there because it’s such a long road with a few setbacks along the way, which is something we would always have expected realistically.

“He brings great presence to the group, he has trained well for a number of weeks and we’ve managed his return to make it as smooth as possible. The response from his team-mates when he scores that non-try, it was still a great moment and we want the players to be expressing themselves out there.”