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Leinster tame the Lions to go six from six to start the season

By PA
Andrew Osborne

Leinster made it six wins in a row in the United Rugby Championship this season with a dogged 24-6 triumph over Lions at the Aviva Stadium.

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Unlike some of their recent bonus-point victories, Leo Cullen’s men had to show their persistence against a Lions outfit that defended physically and smartly for much of this encounter.

Two Kade Wolhuter penalties had Lions leading 6-3 before player-of-the-match Josh van der Flier’s 31st-minute converted try gave Leinster a 10-6 interval lead.

Also adding to his earlier penalty, Sam Prendergast converted Caelan Doris’ score on the hour mark and a last-minute penalty try from a collapsed maul left the margin at 18 points.

The in-form RG Snyman blocked a Morne van den Berg box-kick inside the opening minute, leading to Ireland prospect Prendergast claiming the first points.

Boosted by holding up Hugo Keenan, Lions ventured forward and Wolhuter split the posts twice, his second strike coming from just inside the Leinster half.

The 23-year-old fly-half then pulled a long-range penalty wide before Leinster got into range to break the try deadlock.

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Doris, Ireland’s captain for the Autumn Nations Series, carried hard off a scrum, leading to van der Flier eventually forcing his way over.

Lions’ well-organised defence continued to frustrate Leinster, allied to the hosts’ indiscipline.

Henco van Wyk was quick off the mark to deny James Lowe, getting his fingertips to a dangerous grubber kick from Prendergast.

Finally, the hosts got the cushion they wanted when van der Flier, off the back of a tap penalty platform, sent Doris over from close range and Prendergast converted for a 17-6 scoreline.

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Lions’ hopes of hitting back were ruined by a crooked lineout throw and Leinster were then awarded a penalty try via a dominant drive.

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H
Hellhound 19 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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