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Leinster tame Lions to strengthen United Rugby Championship lead

By PA
(Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Leinster moved four points clear at the top of the United Rugby Championship following a 21-13 win over the Lions at the RDS Arena.

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Third-quarter tries from Michael Ala’alatoa and Scott Penny gave the hosts a comfortable lead before the Lions mustered a late opportunist try for captain Jaco Kriel.

Dave Kearney’s sixth-minute score had Leinster 7-6 ahead at half-time, with Jordan Hendrikse landing two penalties for the South Africans.

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On his return from injury, fly-half Hendrikse was off target with two early penalty attempts as the Lions left points behind them.

Leinster punished them with a free-flowing try, Tommy O’Brien popping up in midfield for a key pass out of a tackle before Jamie Osborne and Max O’Reilly sent Kearney over in the left corner.

Reliable number 10 Ross Byrne floated over the difficult conversion but the Lions proved tough to break down.

Ruben Schoeman forced a turnover penalty, which Hendrikse sent through the uprights in the 12th minute.

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Kearney was stopped a few metres out after combining again with O’Reilly and then a promising lineout opportunity for the visitors was bundled into touch.

Lions scrum-half Morne van den Berg then threatened on a brilliant side-stepping run before Dan Leavy came to Leinster’s rescue.

Quan Horn pinched a pass as the home side looked destined for a try and Hendrikse’s 36th-minute penalty punished Devin Toner for not rolling away.

Kriel did very well to deny Leavy a try just before the break but Leinster resumed in the ascendancy.

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Prop Ala’alatoa drove over in the 47th minute after Leinster had played with successive penalty advantages and Byrne’s conversion made it 14-6.

Kearney and O’Brien carved through on counter-attacking runs, the home pack using the resulting lineout to send flanker Penny over.

Byrne’s boot pushed the margin out to 15 points but Leinster were forced back on the defensive and Stean Pienaar’s breakaway effort was foiled by a terrific O’Brien tackle.

The Lions got their reward in the 78th minute, van den Berg reacting quickest after the ball had squirted out of a Leinster scrum.

Kriel was fed for the score which replacement Tiaan Swanepoel converted.

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Hellhound 42 minutes ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

4 Go to comments
J
JW 57 minutes ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

24 Go to comments
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