Could have taken the easy score, but had other ideas.
The main take away from Leinster vs. Connacht, on Friday night, was how well stocked the national team is in certain positions. Fans at The RDS got to see a fascinating Mack Hansen vs. Jordan Larmour battle play out.
Connacht, buoyed by recent big wins over Ulster and Ospreys, came to Dublin with attacking intent. They looked class in the first half, scored two fine tries, should have been awarded another for Oran McNulty, and yet trailed 19-12 at the break.
The westerners bring a certain chaos to affairs. When the game was fast and loose, it was anyone’s. Both sides combined to miss 61 tackles and there were line breaks all over the shop. It was only when Leinster caught a hold of themselves and started to use their superior pack to hog the ball, and make ground, did they start to pull away.
Try of the first half went to Mack Hansen, who took flight after using Jordan Larmour as a springboard to leap, snatch onto Jack Carty’s cross-field kick and score in the corner.
It was a gem of a score and poor Larmour will be seeing plenty of replays of it in the coming days.
#LEIvCON 14 nóim
Laighin 0
Connachta 5
Mack Hansen a chuireann tús le cúrsaí anseo anocht!! Amharc ar a chríoch seo 🤩 🤩 @Rugbai_BEO @URCOfficial pic.twitter.com/CfusTXRA9l
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) December 3, 2021
Jordan Larmour had other ideas
With Josh van der Flier and Dan Sheehan having great games, and Devin Toner that lineout beacon, Leinster held the advantage at the break, and ripped into the second half.
What turned out to be the killer blow arrived two minutes into the second half and was set up by a lovely James Lowe kick that forced McNulty into conceding a lineout as he scrambled to prevent a 50/22. “Do not give Leinster a set-piece, in your 22, on a platter,” warned Darren Cave, on the commentary beat for Premier Sports.
Toner claimed the line-out and Leinster got to work. Well timed pull-back passes from Harry Byrne and Lowe saw Hugo Keenan come flying into frame. He passed to Larmour and pointed to the corner. An easy try was there for the scoring.
Larmour had other ideas. Hansen was bailing over to cover his wing but the Leinster winger delivered a dose of the medicine he has been delivering against other sides this season. He stepped inside and that was Hansen out of the race. There was still Peter Robb to get through, but Larmour had enough momentum to get the ball down.
Jordan Larmour with the measure of revenge on Mack Hansen, last night
Hugo is pointing for the corner, but Jordan thinks, 'Nah, **** it!' pic.twitter.com/pbzkDrjqEG
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) December 4, 2021
As his teammates mobbed him, Larmour affected nonchalance. No big deal. This is what I do.
He would have been livid with himself for letting Hansen get the jump on him for that first half try. His response was perfect. A reminder to his Ireland wing rival what he can do, too.
From that moment, you sensed the game was up. When Caelan Doris crashed over for Leinster’s fifth try, seven minutes later, it was a matter of how much fight Connacht had left. They threw some shots, but the champions answered back with a whole arsenal.
