Statement Of Intent From Leinster

Stylish Leinster outscored Racing Metro 92 by five tries to one as they hit the ground running in Heineken Cup Pool 2 on Saturday.

Fergus McFadden delighted the raucous RDS crowd by tearing up the right wing for a last minute try, putting the seal on a deserved 38-22 victory for Joe Schmidt’s men.

They stepped it up another few notches from last weekend’s league win over Munster, with tries from man-of-the-match Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney putting them 21-6 ahead at half-time.

Leinster added a third from Richardt Strauss, before Albert VuliVuli hit back for the Top 14 leaders, adding to Jerome Fillol and Francois Steyn’s place-kicking haul.

Seven points was as close as they got in the second half though, as further tries from stand-in captain Jamie Heaslip and McFadden chalked up the bonus point for the hosts.

Racing’s Heineken Cup debut started with a thunderous tackle by Sebastien Chabal on his opposite number Heaslip, but the cult French figure was soon served some of his own medicine by Isa Nacewa.

A clever break from Gordon D’Arcy saw Leinster, with a gusting wind behind them, get within scoring range. Nacewa – taking the kicks instead of out-half Jonathan Sexton – stepped up to slot a sixth minute penalty for the opening points.

Strauss breathed a sigh of relief when his South African compatriot Steyn failed to punish him for a ruck offence. However, Racing’s second penalty attempt was good – Fillol, their third choice out-half, found the target from 40 metres out.

Racing struggled to use their much vaunted scrum to any advantage. Two early engagements were called against Leinster, but they got the rub of the green in the 29th minute when O’Brien managed to force a penalty out of Chabal, at the back of the set piece, and Nacewa made it 6-3.

Two minutes later, the province were celebrating their first try. Racing were caught napping at the restart – a regular occurrence – and after surges from D’Arcy and Mike Ross, a quick recycle saw Eoin Reddan put O’Brien over to the left of the posts.

Nacewa converted and there was just another two-minute pause before a scintillating back-line move, ignited by a well-worked loop between Sexton and Brian O’Driscoll, teed up Kearney for a classic Leinster try.

Steyn and Nacewa traded penalties coming up to the break, and Racing, with the elements behind them, made a purposeful start to the second half. Fillol landed a penalty to follow up on good work by his forwards.

But Leinster were not going to let things slip and after Racing scrum half Nicolas Durand was sin-binned for a ruck offence, quick feet from Luke Fitzgerald created an opening in the corner for hooker Strauss to grab his first Leinster try.

A 10-point burst got Pierre Berbizier’s side back in the hunt. Steyn drove a penalty over from inside his own half and VuliVuli sauntered through a midfield gap to score an excellent try, with O’Driscoll pulling a hamstring as the big Fijian went by.

Fillol added the extras to set up an exciting final quarter, at the start of which runs from the superb D’Arcy and replacements Cian Healy and Isaac Boss paved the way for Heaslip to raid in behind the posts.

Nacewa’s simple conversion was cancelled out by a Fillol penalty as Racing, sparked by Sereli Bobo and replacement Mirco Bergamasco, hunted for a late losing bonus point.

But instead they got a harsh lesson in Heineken Cup finishing when Leinster quickly turned defence into attack, and McFadden took a pass from fellow replacement Shane Horgan to burn off Julien Saubade on a 60-metre dash to the line.

Speaking after the game, try scorer Sean O’Brien said: “There are a lot of tired bodies in the dressing room because we wanted to give a good performance and it was pleasing that we managed to do that.

“Racing have quality players right across their team and we knew that they would be physical.

“We tidied up on some of our basics coming into the game, which was important, and our aim today was to win, which we’re delighted to do. There are going to be no easy games in this pool, that’s for certain.”

His back row colleague Heaslip, who skippered the side in the absence of Leo Cullen, added: “I’m very proud of the way the lads went about their performance out there.

“We showed a lot of ticker and it was pleasing that our defence held tight against some extraordinary pressure by Racing.

“So we’re pleased to get the win and the bonus point and we’ll move on next week for another massive challenge against Saracens.”