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'There aren’t many clubs in world rugby have a fan base that big'
By Simon Thomas
Leinster Rugby remain the maximum men having secured their fourth successive bonus point victory on a record-breaking derby day at Croke Park.
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The early season pacesetters beat arch rivals Munster Rugby 26-12 in front of a crowd of 80,468 – the biggest ever in league history.
Spurred on by the huge attendance, they came flying out of the blocks, crossing three times inside the opening 13 minutes and had the four-try bonus point in the bag by half-time.
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One of those early touchdowns came from No 8 Caelan Doris who led by example as skipper with a Player of the Match performance.
Reflecting on the occasion, he said: “It’s incredible. It was an unbelievable atmosphere. It’s pretty unique having 80,000 filling out this place. There aren’t many clubs in world rugby have a fan base that big. So we massively appreciate them, we felt them out there.”
United Rugby Championship
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Leinster
4
4
0
0
20
2
Glasgow
4
3
1
0
16
3
Lions
3
3
0
0
14
4
Bulls
3
3
0
0
14
5
Connacht
4
2
2
0
13
6
Cardiff Rugby
4
2
2
0
12
7
Munster
4
2
2
0
11
8
Ulster
4
2
2
0
10
9
Edinburgh
4
1
3
0
8
10
Scarlets
4
1
2
1
7
11
Dragons RFC
4
1
3
0
7
12
Benetton
4
1
2
1
7
13
Ospreys
4
1
3
0
6
14
Sharks
3
1
2
0
6
15
Zebre
4
1
3
0
6
16
Stormers
3
1
2
0
5
The Irish international continued: “We had a fast start. We felt our fans behind us and wanted to put on a good show for them early on. I think we did that. We got two tries in the first 10 minutes.
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“With the quality of Munster, we knew they would fight back and it was more of a battle in the second half definitely.”
Leinster are four points clear at the top of the table, with champions Glasgow Warriors in second spot after a 33-3 bonus point victory over Zebre Parsma at Scotstoun.
It’s another Irish derby for table-topping Leinster next weekend as they travel to Galway to take on Connacht.
Second-placed Glasgow and Munster both begin two-week tours of South Africa as they head for the Sharks and Stormers respectively.
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There are two games in Wales, with the Scarlets hosting the unbeaten Bulls and the Dragons entertaining Benetton, while the other Round 5 fixtures are Ulster v Ospreys, Zebre v Lions and Edinburgh v Cardiff.
A fair number of those were also Munster supporters. But that's NH rugby. Where the supporters actually pay for match tickets and show up.
Rather than just spewing 💩 online like the SH thickos.
I think there are a few clubs in world rugby with a bigger fanbase than Leinster. 🤷♂️
Yeah. Look at the Saffa teams. They get dozens of people to attend for a massive mafch - maybe even 100 people on a great day. Most of them either family members or get free tickets.
So you disagree with Doris then?🧐 Many clubs can fill an 80 000 stadium for a league game?