Harry Byrne makes the most of opportunity to lead Leinster to victory
He has been forced to bide his time for a combination of reasons, but Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was pleased to see Harry Byrne grasping an opportunity to impress in the province’s United Rugby Championship victory over Dragons at the RDS on Saturday.
Owing to a hamstring injury, Byrne didn’t make his first competitive appearance of the season until November 26 of last year – another home triumph against Glasgow Warriors. Saturday’s visit of the Welsh region was only his third start of the URC campaign, but he laid down a significant marker in the absence of Jonathan Sexton and his older brother Ross with a 16-point haul that included a brace of opening period tries.
“He’s had a few niggles, Harry. Been a bit of a frustrating run for him. With Johnny and Ross away, obviously Ciaran Frawley has been injured as well, it has been a great window for Harry to run the team. You can see he does it really well. Scores a couple of tries in the first half. He has run the team well during the week, which is the role of the 10 really,” Cullen explained after the game.
While four members of Ireland’s Six Nations squad featured from the start for the Blues – Jimmy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne and Michael Milne – it was Byrne who got the ball rolling with a fourth-minute try that he also converted.
A spirited Dragons subsequently took the game to the URC’s pace-setters, before a mistimed pass in midfield from Will Reed allowed Luke McGrath to pounce for a breakaway try on 26 minutes. McGrath’s scrum-half counterpart Rhodri Williams did cross over the line at the opposite end, but Leinster had already wrapped up a bonus point by the interval courtesy of additional five-pointers from Rhys Ruddock and Byrne (his second).
Their 26-7 cushion was increased seven minutes after the resumption when Larmour bagged a superb solo try, before a familiar face to Irish rugby supporters responded for the Dragons inside the final-quarter. Kerry native JJ Hanrahan amassed 141 senior appearances for Munster across two spells at the southern province and he raced underneath the posts to offer solace to the 15th-place Dragons.
While a 14th successive Leinster victory was never in doubt, replacements Rob Russell and Charlie Tector (with his first try in professional club rugby) dotted down in the closing moments to ensure Cullen’s charges convincingly moved 12 points clear of champions DHL Stormers in the URC standings.
Tries – H Byrne (2), L McGrath, R Ruddock, J Larmour, R Russell, C Tector. Cons – H Byrne (3), C Tector.
Tries – R Williams, JJ Hanrahan. Cons – W Reed (2).
J O’Brien; J Larmour, L Turner, J Osborne, D Kearney; H Byrne, L McGrath; M Milne, J McKee, M Ala’alatoa; R Molony, B Deeny; R Ruddock, S Penny, M Deegan.
L Barron for McKee, J Boyle for Milne, T Clarkson for Ala’alatoa, J Jenkins for Molony, N McCarthy for McGrath, R Russell for Larmour (all 55), W Connors for Penny (62), C Tector for Byrne (71).
A O’Brien; S Tomkinson, S Hughes, J Dixon, A Hewitt; W Reed, R Williams; R Jones, B Coghlan, L Fairbrother; M Screech, B Carter; B Fry, T Basham, R Moriarty.
J Benjamin for Coghlan (9-21), J Williams for Dixon (h-t), JJ Hanrahan for Tomkinson (46), A Seiuli for Jones (54), S Lonsdale for Fry (55), C Coleman for Fairbrother (58), Benjamin for Coghlan (65), L Jones for R Williams (66), R Woodman for Moriarty (71).
M Adamson (SRU).