Try for Leinster: Sean O'Brien
Leinster ensured they will play their Heineken Cup quarter-final in Dublin with a convincing 25-3 win over Montpellier at the RDS on Saturday.
The champions cruised to a 20-0 lead at half-time thanks to tries from Sean O'Brien and Rob Kearney.
Prop Cian Healy added a third try soon after the break to seal an easy victory.
Leinster dominated the scrum in the opening stages and they were able to turn that into points early in the game.
On nine minutes O'Brien's charge over the line was given the green light by the video referee and nine minutes later they were over the line again, when Kearney raced 50 metres to touch down. Both tries were converted by Fergus McFadden, who also booted over a penalty in between the two scores to put Leinster 17-0 up.
Montpellier already had a mountain to climb and their cause wasn't helped when indiscipline on the stroke of half-time gifted McFadden the opportunity to establish a 20-point cushion.
The hosts maintained their stranglehold on the contest despite seeing Damian Browne sin-binned on 30 minutes.
The French side needed to find points early in the second half if they were to get anything out of the contest, but the result was settled just minutes after the restart when Leinster's Healy crashed over for their third try of the afternoon. McFadden was wide with his conversion attempt but it mattered little.
Martin Bustos Moyana was able to ensure that the visitors weren't nilled, when he struck a penalty in the closing stages, but it provided scant consolation for Montpellier, who finish bottom of Heineken Cup Pool 4. Victory for Leinster, on the other hand, ensures they top the group.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: O'Brien, R. Kearney, Healy
Cons: McFadden 2
Pens: McFadden 2
For Montpellier:
Pen: Bustos Moyano
Yellow card: Browne (Leinster - 27th min - ruck infringement)
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Eoin O'Malley, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Damian Browne, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Heinke Van der Merwe, 18 Mike Ross, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 David Kearney, 23 Fionn Carr.
Montpellier: 15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Yoan Audrin, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Martin Bustos Moyano, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Mickael Demarco, 4 Drickus Hancke, 3 George Jgenti, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Na'ama Leleimalefaga.
Replacements: 16 Rassie van Vuuren, 17 Juan Figallo, 18 Maximiliano Bustos, 19 Joe Tuineau, 20 Vassili Bost, 21 Benoit Paillaugue, 22 Santiago Fernandez, 23 Geoffrey Doumayrou.
Venue: RDS
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth (England), Robin Goodliffe (England)
Television match official: David Grashoff (England)
Comments
Rosbif says...
thks maria14. your munster men looked pretty good too last night! don't remember seeing poc play that well in years, and the new boy zebo is not bad either :-)
Posted 08:53 22nd January 2012
munster13 says...
kearney is getting good again, brilliant try
Posted 02:39 22nd January 2012
maria14 says...
@Rosbif.. Neil Paterson is from Ulster in northern Ireland but moved to scotland for work reasons a few years ago and while he was there worked his way up through the Scottish rugby to become a ref so he is scottish qualified i hope this helps xxx
Posted 22:52 21st January 2012
leinster_goy says...
let's face it, the late loss of sexto disrupted the game plan to an extent. madigan coped admirably well but we would have got that 4th try with our first choice 10 playing. amazing defense in the first half, strong performances from heaslip and kearney
Posted 20:36 21st January 2012
Rosbif says...
@hasto. thks! (and for the avoidance of doubt, i'm not in any way suggesting anything about his refereeing.....maybe i shld have made that more clear in my first post)
peace. and well played leinster. no team is going to fancy going to rds for a qf. :-)
Posted 20:19 21st January 2012
staph_glorious says...
Neil Paterson has (in geographical terms) an Ulster lineage, though I cannot comment on how immediate. Irrelevant though.
Posted 20:09 21st January 2012
Hasto says...
Rosbif, I'm Irish and not an expert on Scottish accents, but he REALLY sounds like he's from Ulster!!
Posted 18:42 21st January 2012
crunchfit says...
Great first half. Second wasn't so good.
@Rosbif
Not very.
Posted 16:11 21st January 2012
melkdave says...
A clinical performance from Leinster and i have to say played well within themselves imo.With a home QF and their present form i wouldnt bet against them getting to the SFs mno matter who they meet
Posted 15:57 21st January 2012
Rosbif says...
I may not be an expert on UK regional accents, but how Irish does Neil Paterson sound....for a Scotsman...?
Posted 15:36 21st January 2012