MONTPELLIER 22-16 LEINSTER
The Leinster lieutenants will hope these two errors do not count dearly by the end of the pool stages.
Played out on a sodden, grubby mess of a pitch in the south of France, Leinster fell to a beastly Montpellier side but will for home with a losing bonus point after late heroics from Isa Nacwea.
Leinster had the chance of snatching a losing bonus point in the closing stages as Dan Leavy and Jamison Gibson-Park were both denied by frenzied defence.
Ultimately, Leinster were left regretting far too many handling errors, lost lineouts and poor decision-making over the course of a gruelling game. Leinster led 3-0 through Nacewa before Montpellier pressure finally saw them crack.
Centre Vincent Martin cantered past Mike Ross and through a massive hole in the Leinster defence for the first try and both Rob Kearney and Luke McGrath bounced off giant Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo in the lead-up to Montepellier’s second.
Kearney in particular will be disappointed at his tackle technique on the former Super Rugby star:
14-3 at the break and both sides traded penalties before the game-breaker.
Leinster had a scrum put-in on their 5-metre line. Jamie Heaslip broke up the blindside and looked to find Zane Kirchner. Had his pass found a luminous yellow jersey, it could have led to a breakaway try but Nadolo gambled and won. Heaslip was distraught.
The conversion was missed and Leinster knew a converted try would see them get a losing bonus point. Heaslip was superb in how he picked, carried and got over the gainline in the closing stages. Gibson-Park was an inspiration.
The Kiwi scrum-half found Nacewa out wide and the veteran knew he had to get as close to the posts possible to make his conversion easier.
He got close but the trick was still tricky. No bother to Nacewa as he kicked his 11th point of the afternoon and salvaged a point for the visitors.
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