After 30 minutes, Leffel departed, looking like he was about to faint. Almost immediately, Leinster began to hit a rhythm. Lowe powered down the left and offloaded inside to Garry Ringrose. Gibson Park ran up in support and Freddie Steward scrambled well but Larmour danced his way through a desperate cover in the far corner. The first half ended in a frenzied fashion, with the Tigers stopping Leinster behind Ryan Baird’s rumble and only hacking away a loose ball at the other end, but Dan McKellar’s side took a 15-10 lead into change. I headed to my room.
Leicester were penalized early in the second half when Pollard missed a penalty kick. Seconds later, Whiteley was found guilty of deliberately knocking Henshaw’s pass down. Leinster found their touch and with Chetham also leaving the pitch, an attractive lineout drive exploded for the Tigers. Dan Sheehan was the beneficiary. McKellar said La Rochelle should be on track to progress unless they lose to Sale Sharks in Salford tomorrow lunchtime with two bonus points, but he cited this as a crucial setback. . “I told the players that this is a Test match, so I wanted the players to empty their tanks,” he said afterwards. “They did that, but the reality is we didn’t take chances in important moments. [Leinster] did. “
What is impressive is that the Tigers did not decline after the introduction of the Solomone Kata and became more fluent. Their energetic forwards successfully converted a series of penalties, giving Jack Connan a yellow card. Just when it looked like a try was inevitable, Doris swooped in behind his own post for a breakdown penalty. Both teams chased bonus points for a brief period of time. Fittingly, it was the outstanding Doris who emerged victorious in what Karen called a “proper dogfight” contest.
Match details
Scoring order: 5-0 Liebenberg try, 7-0 Pollard conversion, 10-0 Pollard penalty, 10-3 Byrne penalty, 10-8 McCarthy try, 10-10 Byrne conversion, 10-15 Larmore try, 10-20 Sheehan try, 10 – 22 Burn Conversion, 10-27 Doris Try
Leicester Tigers: F Steward; H. Symonds (J. Silcock, 36), M. Scott, D. Kelly (S. Kata, 57), O. Hassell-Collins. H Pollard, T Whiteley (B Youngs, 59); J Cronin (F van Wyk, 53), J Montoya (A Veins, 79), J Hayes (W Hurd, 57), H Wells, O Chetham ( S Carter, 43 years old), H Liebenberg, T Leffel (K Hatherell, 30 years old), J. Wiese
Leinster: H Keenan; J Larmore (T O’Brien, 76), G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Rowe. H. Byrne (S. Prendergast, 63), J. Gibson Park (L. McGrath, 71). A. Porter (C. Healy, 71), D. Sheehan (R. Kelleher, 58), T. Furlong (M. Alaalatoa, 58), J. McCarthy (R. Moloney, 70), J.・Ryan, R. Baird, J. van der Flier (J) Conan, 58), C. Doris
Referee: Piardi (Italy)
Attendance: 25,849
yellow card: Whiteley (42), Conan (66)