Leinster too good for Bath, Leicester win in Bordeaux

Planet Rugby 11 Dec 2021 5:14 PM

Leinster scored seven tries as they dominated Premiership basement dwellers Bath in a 45-20 Champions Cup victory in Dublin on Saturday.

The 25,403 supporters in attendance enjoyed a free-flowing first 40 minutes, at the end of which Leinster led 31-13, with Bath’s late rally seeing Jacques du Toit barge his way over from a well-worked line-out move.

The Irish outfit had dominated up to that point, bagging their bonus point within 24 minutes as Jamison Gibson-Park (2), Tadhg Furlong, James Lowe and Hugo Keenan, with his first European try, all crossed.

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Bath’s porous defence leaked two more tries – Ronan Kelleher and Josh van der Flier both crossing before replacement Gabriel Hamer-Webb replied with a late consolation score for Stuart Hopper’s young side.

With six of Bath’s starters making their European debuts, a second-minute penalty from fly-half Orlando Bailey settled the early nerves.

However, Leinster soon used numbers on the short side of a ruck, breaking menacingly from the halfway line as Lowe released Gibson-Park for a 25-metre run-in to the left corner.

Ross Byrne missed the difficult conversion but added the extras to Furlong’s 11th-minute effort, the man of the match barging over after captain Rhys Ruddock had come around the corner from a line-out.

Bailey’s right boot briefly halved the deficit to 12-6, before another pacy Leinster surge earned them a third try. Lowe dived over from Keenan’s inviting offload, with Byrne converting.

After Bailey pushed a long-range penalty wide, Bath had Richard de Carpentier sin-binned for collapsing a maul. Lowe returned the favour for Keenan, sending the full-back over with a lovely short pass. Byrne converted to make it 26-6.

Gibson-Park soon completed his brace, making up for a near miss from Jordan Larmour, but Bath replied before the break, when Josh Bayliss broke from a dummy lineout drive to put hooker Du Toit over. Bailey converted from out wide.

Bath scrummaged well on the resumption – a notable positive for them – but Leinster slammed the door shut on any potential comeback when Kelleher bulldozed his way over for Byrne to restore the 25-point gap.

Bath went close from a maul before Leinster ended a scrappy third quarter with another try, Tom Ellis doing well to stop Ruddock before Byrne’s pass back inside saw Van der Flier score. The number 10 also curled over the conversion.

Apart from a Keenan chance and some clever midfield running from Ciaran Frawley, Leinster were sloppy during the closing stages.

Bath had some good impact from their bench. The fresh legs of Hamer-Webb benefited from a crisp attack off a line-out to go in under the posts.

Leicester’s season goes from strength to strength

A late George Ford penalty helped Leicester get their Champions Cup campaign off to a winning start as they beat Bordeaux 16-13 at the Stade Chaban-Delmas.

Ford kicked 11 points with Guy Porter scoring their only try as Steve Borthwick’s side maintained their unbeaten start to the season. Jean-Baptiste Dubie touched down for Bordeaux, with Maxime Lucu adding eight points.

Bordeaux wasted no time in taking the lead, with Lucu knocking over a penalty from 40 metres out after a mere three minutes.

After a hectic opening quarter of an hour Ford levelled the scores for Leicester with a simple penalty after Tommy Reffell had put the visitors on the front foot with a strong carry, forcing the hosts to infringe at the breakdown.

Bordeaux were then temporarily reduced to 14 men, with former Australia international Kaine Douglas sent to the sin bin for a swinging arm to the head of Calum Green.

Leicester made the most of their numerical advantage as Ford drew in Cameron Woki before offloading to Bryce Hegarty who sliced open the Bordeaux defence. Hegarty charged towards the line before putting Porter over for the try, which Ford converted.

Leicester’s pack were now in the ascendancy with their scrum and lineout putting Bordeaux under a severe amount of pressure.

After laying siege to the Bordeaux try line, Ford opted for a cross-kick, but Hosea Saumaki ended up taking Nans Ducuing out in the air. Referee Andrew Brace was left no option but to show Saumaki a yellow card.

This proved to be a momentum shift as Bordeaux ended the half with the wind in their sails.

First, Italy international Federico Mori raced clear into the Leicester 22 to give the hosts a strong attacking position.

After a period of sustained pressure, Bordeaux centre Moram Falatea-Moefana carried forward before executing a perfect offload to put Dubie over for the try. Lucu added the extras, meaning the scores were level at 10-10 at half-time.

Leicester had a try disallowed in the early stages of the second half, with Porter knocking the ball forward before the line, meaning Harry Potter’s grounding was null and void.

Ford missed a penalty for the Tigers and kicked straight out on the full which handed the momentum back to the hosts, and Lucu edged Bordeaux in front for the first time with a successful penalty.

Bordeaux put Leicester under severe pressure but could not take advantage. Leicester forced their way back into the Bordeaux 22 and their scrum earned them a penalty which allowed Ford to level the scores with 10 minutes remaining.

With four minutes left on the clock Ford knocked over a penalty from 45 metres out to put the Tigers back in front.

Bordeaux turned down a kickable penalty to level the scores with the last play of the game, but they refused to accept the draw and went for the corner.

But after a few powerful carries, they were penalised and Leicester came out on top.