Adam Byrne on fire as Leinster blitz Zebre
Following an injury-enforced absence of nearly two years, Adam Byrne returned to grab a brace of tries in Leinster’s emphatic bonus point victory against Zebre in the United Rugby Championship at the RDS on Saturday.
Making his first competitive appearance since December 2019, the pacy winger touched down in each half as Leo Cullen’s side made it three wins from three in this revamped competition.
Playing in front of a crowd of 10,400, Leinster wasted no time in asserting their authority. At the end of an extended attacking spell, flanker Scott Penny dotted down for a second-minute try.
Ireland international Jordan Larmour also crossed the whitewash during the opening quarter, but the hosts subsequently lost Harry Byrne to injury on 23 minutes.
Jonathan Sexton was a ready-made replacement for the young fly-half, however, and he released Adam Byrne for a neat finish in the right-corner on the stroke of the interval.
Already 15-0 ahead, Leinster wrapped up maximum points when Ed Byrne drove over the Zebre line just three minutes after the restart. The evergreen Sean Cronin also got in on the scoring act in advance of Adam Byrne registering his second try off a sublime Sexton cross-field kick.
The onslaught continued inside the final quarter with a Rónan Kelleher five-pointer, before Zebre claimed a consolation through Pierre Bruno’s breakaway score on 67 minutes.
: A Byrne 2 tries, S Penny, J Larmour, E Byrne, S Cronin, R Kelleher try each, J Sexton 4 cons.
P Bruno try, P Pescetto con.
J O’Brien; A Byrne, J Osborne, C Frawley, J Larmour; H Byrne, L McGrath; E Byrne, S Cronin, M Ala’alatoa; R Baird, D Toner; D Leavy, S Penny, R Ruddock.
J Sexton for Byrne (23), R Russell for Frawley (47), R Kelleher for Cronin, P Dooley for E Byrne, C Healy for Ala’alatoa, M Deegan for Leavy (all 50), N McCarthy for McGrath (56), R Molony for Penny (71).
J Trulla; P Bruno, E Cronjé, E Lucchin, M Bellini; A Rizzi, N Casilio; A Lovotti, O Fabiani I Neculai; C Stoian, A Zambonin; I Bianchi, L Andreani, R Giammarioli.
: P Pescetto for Bianchi (53), M Ceciliani for Fabiani, D Fischetti for Lovotti, M Nocera for Neculai (all 56), G Licata for Rizzi (59), D Sisi for Stoian (62), G Palazzani for Casilio (66), T Boni for Andreani (72).
S Grove-White (SRU).