Leinster 14-13 Harlequins (Full-time)
Leinster took about 15 minutes to warm up in their Champions Cup encounter with Harlequins, at the Aviva Stadium, but held out for a 14-13 win. The highlight of the opening 40 was a well-worked try for Leinster scrum-half Isaac Boss midway through the half. Ian Madigan got the match-winning penalty on 72 minutes but the win was far from a pretty one.
The crowd were slow in taking their seats and notably muted in the opening stages. Leinster helped matters none by constantly kicking away possession and only Rob Kearney’s aerial takes and Dominic Ryan’s big hits raised cheers.
Quins pressed early and looked to test their hosts out wide. They forced an early penalty but Tim Swiel scuffed his effort right and wide. Luke Fitzgerald showed nice footwork and evasive skills on two occasions as Leinster responded but it was slow going.
Ian Madigan had a great chance to opening the scoring after 20 minutes but his 30m penalty, from straight in front, cannoned off the left-hand post.
The Blues responded well to force a rolling maul off an attacking 5m line-out but were turned over after an initial surge. Quins were guilty of infringing at the breakdown, last week, when Leinster had good attacking position near the 22. Romain Poite pinged the visitors for such foul play on 25 minutes and Madigan finally broke the deadlock with a handy penalty.
A major statement was made, on 31 minutes, when Leinster wheeled an attacking scrum from 5m out. Quins were shunted towards the posts and Heaslip picked and fed Boss for a simple try up the blindside and in the right-hand corner. Madigan missed the conversion but Swiel, almost immediately, put another penalty wide. 8-0 but not much to get excited about.
Madigan improved his kicking stats to 50% (two from four) just before the break to make it 11-0.
Matt O’Connor’s men were fortunate not to concede a try early in the second half as Joe Marler was adjudged to have knocked on moments before Mike Brown touched down after a chip over the top. The scrum tide was beginning to shift, however, and Swiel chipped over a simple penalty soon after as Marler earned his team a penalty in the right direction.
Quins moved to within a point of Leinster after 57 minutes when the home side were sucked in by a Michael Hopper surge and quick ball was spun right by Danny Care. Darragh Fanning gambled by coming off his wing but did not time his tackle and there was, all of a sudden, a 3-on-0. Brown dotted down and Swiel converted for 11-10.
Conor O’Shea looked on approvingly from the Quins’ coaching box as Swiel knocked over the go-ahead penalty, on 67 minutes, after Leinster were blown up for going offside. 11-13 and looking flat, Leinster need a big finalé.
Eoin Reddan, who had underperformed at The Stoop last week, provided it as he made two scything breaks in the space of 30 seconds. A reeling Quins conceded a penalty and Madigan knocked it over to make it 14-13. Harlequins fought to the death but perhaps too vigorously as Charlie Matthews was sin-binned, on 77 minutes, after an unseemly scuffle near his 10m line.
More to follow…
