Six try Leinster cruise past Chile in friendly
Leinster bagged six tries at Energia Park on Friday to cruise towards a convincing 37-point triumph over Chile in a Bank of Ireland friendly.
Playing with a mixture of fringe players and All-Ireland League stars in the absence of their vast Ireland contingent, Leinster recorded their first win over international opposition since defeating Canada 38-35 back in August 2019.
Despite falling behind to a sixth-minute Santiago Videla penalty, hooker Lee Barron registered a brace of set-piece tries to give the eastern province a firm stranglehold on the proceedings.
Cormac Foley and Andrew Smith subsequently crossed over either side of the first-quarter mark, and with Charlie Tector also contributing six points off the kicking tee, the hosts led 26-3 at the interval.
Although a raft of replacements led to a disjointed second half, captain Liam Turner and Sean O’Brien added converted five-pointers on the resumption. This helped Leinster to ease past the challenge of the Chileans, who will be competing at their first World Cup finals in France next year.
Tries: L Barron (2), C Foley, A Smith, L Turner, S O’Brien. Cons: C Tector (5).
Pen: S Videla.
C Cosgrave; R Russell, L Turner, B Brownlee, A Smith; C Tector, C Foley; M Milne, L Barron, T Clarkson; B Deeny, C Daly; R Ruddock, C Boomer, S O’Brien.
M Hanan for Milne, S Penny for Ruddock, C Hogan for Russell (all h-t), J McKee for Barron, T Connolly for Clarkson, N McCarthy for Foley (all 44), S Prendergast for Turner (48), A King for Brownlee (49), Foley for McCarthy (58-73), T Lasisi for Connolly (76).
S Videla; L Carvallo, M Garafulic, C Armstrong, G Moltedo; D Warnken, N Herreros; S Lues, D Escobar, I Gurruchaga; P Huete, J Eissmann; M Sigren, I Silva, C Saavedra.
R Fernández for Garafulic (43), J Milesi for Saavedra (48), T Dussaillant for Escobar, R Martinez for Huete (both 53), J Carrasco for Gurruchaga, B Videla for Herreros (both 58), J Ignacio Larenas for Moltedo (66), M Dittus for Lues (76).
P Martin (IRFU).