Leinster v Glasgow Warriors: Five takeaways as Sam Prendergast gives ’emphatic’ Lions statement but Jacques Nienaber’s defence the ‘star attraction’
Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber and fly-half Sam Prendergast.
Following a 52-0 victory for Leinster over Glasgow in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals, here are our five takeaways from Friday’s clash at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The top line
Sam Prendergast and player of the match Jordie Barrett combined in a Leinster masterclass to obliterate Glasgow and book a Champions Cup semi-final against the winners of Saturday’s clash between Northampton and Castres.
The pair were superb in capitalising on the platform laid by their forwards as rampant Leinster set about proving last week’s 10-try thrashing of Harlequins in the Round of 16 was absolutely no fluke.
Jacques Nienaber’s defence was again a star attraction as the four-time winners went from 62-0 against Quins to 52-0 here. Since last conceding a point in this competition, against Bath in the pool stages, they have scored 142 of their own.
The evening was best summed up by Barrett lifting Adam Hastings off his feet and carrying him into touch.
“That was like Jordie Barrett taking the bins out in the morning,” John Barclay, the former Scotland star, observed through gritted teeth.
On this form, and with home advantage again in the next round, it is hard to see anyone stopping Leinster from gracing the Final at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on May 24.
Close to perfection
After watching his countrymen torn apart Barclay declared that Leinster’s eight-try display “wasn’t far off perfection”.
He found agreement from fellow pundit Rob Kearney, the former Leinster and Ireland full-back, who purred: “Utterly ruthless, utterly relentless.
“Oppressive, suffocating, they didn’t give Glasgow a sniff in the game, they didn’t give them any opportunity to get into the game.”
Kearney then posed the question as to whether perhaps Harlequins weren’t as wretched as they had been against the men in blue.
“We look back on last week’s game and there was a huge amount of discussion about Harlequins and their lack of intensity and effort,” he said.
“Maybe it wasn’t all Harlequins’ fault last week. Maybe this is just an unbelievably good Leinster team.”
On track, finally, for that fifth star?
When Johnny Sexton lifted the Champions Cup in Bilbao in 2018 nobody could have imagined that seven years later Leinster would still be searching for their fifth star.
That night at the Estadio de San Mames, when the Blues equalled Toulouse’s record of four wins and senior coach Stuart Lancaster savoured redemption after his World Cup nightmare with England, seemed like it was just the start.
Sure enough, the pride of Dublin did reach the final again the following year, and in three of the five years after that, yet glory has eluded this golden generation of players.
With each missed opportunity the pressure has cranked up another notch so, while they started as hot favourites here, Glasgow dared to believe they might get to them in the battle of the mind.
“Leinster have to win tonight, we want to win,” was how Warriors coach Franco Smith put it pre-match. “The pressure is on them. No need for us to be nervous.”
Nice try. No chance. Once Max Deegan went over for the first of his two scores on 14 minutes, Leinster were into their stride and that was that.
Glasgow’s kamikaze mission
Turning up at the Aviva without half your first team is inadvisable at the best of times. Glasgow quickly realised this was nothing like the best of times.
To be fair they had little say in the matter. Scotland centres Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones are crocked, so too Scott Cummings, Zander Ferguson, Josh McKay, Rory Sutherland and Jack Dempsey.
Only Henco Venter’s absence was self-inflicted, the result of a six-week ban for making contact with Dan Cole’s eyes during their round of 16 win over Leicester a week ago.
In the circumstances Warriors did well to fill 23 shirts. But that was the height of their achievement. Leinster had their bonus point bagged in half an hour, the game and dusted long before half-time.
This Glasgow team built its reputation on away wins at Thomond Park and Loftus Versfeld en route to URC glory. Here they were whipping boys, a side with no answer to the pace and cohesion of the Leinster game.
Losing Adam Hastings to a yellow card in the second quarter certainly did not help. It cost them a penalty try in the first instance, a further 12 points while he was cooling his heels.
Factor in what appears to be a serious leg injury for Matt Fagerson and it added up to a night to forget for the Scots.
Sam delivers in Lions watch
In the build-up, the talk was of British and Irish Lions selection and the opportunity this quarter-final stage gave for contenders to convince watching tour boss Andy Farrell they deserved boarding passes for Australia.
Uppermost in the discussion was the fly-half position. With Finn Russell seemingly a shoo-in, would Prendergast do enough to move ahead of rivals Jack Crowley, Fin and Marcus Smith in the pecking order.
The answer was emphatic. The 22-year old was magnificent from the moment he sent a spiral clearance 60 metres downfield in the second minute.
He had a hand in everything Leinster did, working one opening after another with slick hands, clever footwork or threaded kicks. His touchline conversion kicking was imperious, his composure at the line impressive. He richly deserved the standing ovation when he made way after an hour.
Elsewhere, Jamison Gibson-Park looked as sharp as a tack and Garry Ringrose back to his best. The one concern for Farrell was an early injury to Jack Conan. His one regret, that Jordie Barrett is a New Zealander.
