Bristol v Leinster: Five takeaways as Jordie Barrett ‘defines impact’ on debut while ‘world-class’ team-mates also shine off the bench
Jordie Barrett in action for Leinster against Bristol Bears in the Champions Cup.
Following Leinster’s 35-12 triumph over Bristol Bears, here are our five takeaways from the Champions Cup clash at Ashton Gate on Sunday.
The top line
A doughty first half display by Bristol Bears couldn’t stop Leinster from pressing on the accelerator as the visitors delivered a resounding four-try performance in the second half at Ashton Gate to take the fixture 35-12.
Leinster’s five scores came courtesy of Jordan Larmour, Sam Prendergast (2), Jordie Barrett and player of the match Josh van der Flier, whilst Bristol’s replies came from Max Lahiff and Gabe Ibitoye, who sprinted some 50 metres late in the second half to gain some form of respectability.
With Prendergast notching 20 points in total, it was a brutal second half display from the visitors, one that Bristol simply couldn’t live with. After turning round honours even at half-time, Leinster’s massive impact off the bench took them home as the respective quality of both sets of replacements made the difference in the scoreline.
Bench impact
Jordie Barrett on debut, Caelan Doris and RG Snyman as a trio are more usually found on X or Instagram in various fan-picked world XVs than they are coming off the replacement’s bench on a stormy December night in Bristol.
And, rather predictably, their collective impact was as big as their physical frames as the Leinster bench strategy was simply too much for the bruised and battered Bears.
In the 57th minute, a delightful hold pass from Barrett stood up the Bristol midfield, leaving a huge hole between Ibitoye and Joe Jenkins in midfield, and Prendergast needed no more space to gas the defence and nip over to bring the lead to Leinster for the first time in the match. Two minutes later the All Black centre found his own gap and crashed over to increase the lead as he defined impact.
With Doris setting another up for Prendergast a few minutes afterwards, the impact of the world-class players on the Leinster bench cannot be understated as Barrett, Snyman and Doris saw their team home in style. Such outstanding gameplay is one of the reasons rugby union continues to grow as a globally streamed sport. According to research from a VPN provider, events like the AFC Asian Cup, which drew 69 million viewers for its final match, and the Super Bowl, which broke viewership records this year, highlight the increasing demand for live sports access worldwide. As fans find innovative ways to follow their favorite games, rugby could see similar global engagement, connecting audiences through a shared passion for the sport.
MacGinty loss
There’s many in the sport that wonder at the completeness of the skill set of Benhard Janse van Rensburg. We’ve seen him jump in the lineout, throw in from the touchlines, scrummage at eight and take restarts – an amazingly versatile player and all of this from a man that usually inhabits the centre berth.
However, when Bristol Bears fly-half AJ MacGinty was taken from the pitch in the fourth minute, presumably searching Ashton Gate for the ribcage that Garry Ringrose had just removed from his body with a thundering tackle, the big 12 slotted into fly-half, only for us to finally find the weaknesses in his all-round skill set.
Bluntly put, Janse van Rensburg struggled hugely with the kicking duties, and importantly, consistently found himself standing too deep to launch the normally fluid Bristol attack, as the Leinster defence, often on the edge of offside, gave him a torrid time in the stand-off berth.
It’s hard to blame big Benhard, a man that gives everything for the cause and is of course a world-class centre, but in a game of the finest margins, Bristol found themselves clearing 20 metres to touch, not 40, and they found themselves starting their attack not on the gainline, but some 10 metres behind it – crucial gain negatives when scoring was at such a premium for both teams.
Forward battle
The battle of the forwards was brutal and often far too illegal for the likes of the officials.
Out of their 10 scrums on their put-ins in the match, Leinster won or completed only five of them, as Rabah Slimani’s technique, one where he seagulls in and down onto the loosehead, once again came under deep scrutiny from the officials. It was ironic that when the referee finally tired of the shenanigans it was replacement Andrew Porter and Bears’ Max Lahiff that both saw themselves carded, leaving the two giants chuntering amusingly to each other as they ambled off the pitch.
But as much as the front-rows bashed pieces out of each other, the battle between the two sevens – Fitz Harding and former World Rugby Player of the Year Josh van der Flier – was one of epic stuff and the fact that Harding lost little in comparison to the great Irish openside demonstrated just how far his game has evolved over the last couple of seasons. Harding topped both the carries and the tackles for Bristol with 19 and 20 respectively in a massive outing for the home skipper, but one that wasn’t quite enough to hold out the former European champions.
But at eight, as the game progressed so Jack Conan’s massive carries came to the fore against the tiring Bears, and as Leinster unloaded some 400 Test caps (and a couple of World Cups) off the bench, so the Bears were tamed, leaving them wondering what might have been had they managed to maintain their first half intensity.
Yellow card flop
In the last 10 minutes of the first half, Leinster found themselves down to 13 as referee Brousset firstly sent Ronan Kelleher to the sin-bin for collapsing a driving maul and soon after, Max Deegan followed the hooker to the naughty step for a rather cynical trip on the outstanding Bristol flanker Harding.
With a two-man advantage it didn’t take long for Bristol to break the deadlock as Bill Mata smashed his way to the line, only to be held up, and then colourful tighthead Lahiff drove over for a fan’s favourite of a try. Job done, or so it should be. But then disaster struck as Rich Lane lost concentration in the restart, for Leinster to recycle neatly to send flying wing Larmour over to level the scores at seven apiece just before halftime.
Bristol had worked their way back into this game by their fingernails and, with a two-man advantage for some 10 minutes, they really should have made a lot more of this crucial period but Leinster showed the core resilience they’re famed for. To come out of a two-card period honours even was a crucial moment in the game, one that Bristol should have maximised but one that Leinster cleverly minimised.
However, just after the restart, you could be forgiven for wondering quite why Joe McCarthy didn’t see a third yellow after a clear and deliberate trip on Harding. It was a cynical and clear attempt to take the openside out by McCarthy and, in times when everyone wants consistent outcomes, it was bizarre to see the lock not penalised further in a match where the French referee won himself few fans.
READ MORE: Toulouse v Ulster: Five takeaways as ‘pack of lions’ inspire ‘deluge’ over ‘learning’ visitors
