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Despite 'visa' debacle Leinster dethrone Kings

After a slow start Leinster opened up in the second half

In the first match in the championship to ever be played in at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, Leinster showed no signs of travel sickness.

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It took less than four minutes for the hosts to open their account, Masixole Banda converting a simple penalty after Leinster were penalised for offside.

After the Kings controlled the early stages, Leinster roared back with nine minutes on the clock and after laying siege to the hosts’ defensive line, Ed Byrne and Luke McGrath combined to allow Noel Reid to sneak over the line to bag the first Pro14 try on South African soil, Ross Byrne converting from a tricky angle.

The two teams went hammer and tong from there on out but neither was prepared to concede an inch, with the score remaining 7-3 right through to the half-time break.

The impasse was broken just a few minutes into the second period, however.

Leinster burst into life and outside centre Rory O’Loughlin was able to shake off a tackle to force his way over the whitewash to stretch the visitors’ advantage to five points.

Shortly afterwards, patient play through the phases led to Leo Cullen’s troops continuing their explosion out of the blocks, Jack Conan charging forward to clinch his team’s third try of the afternoon, Ross Byrne successfully adding the extras to make to 19-3.

The blue blitz continued from there on, with O’Loughlin involved as Leinster went wide and sent Joey Carberry over for the visitors’ fourth try, which secured a bonus point.

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Byrne converted to put the visitors 23 points to the good and Carberry almost had his second try of the match in the 59th minute, only for the score to be chalked off for a Cian Healey knock-on in the build-up.

However, a fifth Leinster try would arrive in the 72nd minute courtesy of Dave Kearney.

The scoring wasn’t done there however and the Kings finally enjoyed the moment they had been chasing all match – their first Pro14 try at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Jacques Nel was the man to dot down for the home side, the replacement getting himself over the line after good work from Oliver Zono, Ntabeni Dukisa kicking the resultant conversion.

James Tracey almost touched down for Leinster at the death but he was held as he attempted to ground the ball.

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The scorers:

For Southern Kings:
Try: Nel
Con: Dukisa
Pen: Banda

For Leinster:
Tries: Reid, O’Loughlin, Conan, Carbery, Kearney
Cons: Byrne 3

Teams:

Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Oliver Zono, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Khaya Majola, 5 Dries van Schalkwyk, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Petrus Strauss, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Bobby de Wee, 20 Siyabulela Mdaka, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Jacques Nel.

Leinster: 15 Joey Carbery, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock (captain), 5 James Ryan, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Ed Byrne.
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Jordan Larmour.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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