Cullen hails Keenan as Leinster eye Munster revenge
The Ireland international delivered a player of the match performance on his return to provincial action
DAIRE WALSH, RDS
Leo Cullen sang the praises of Hugo Keenan after the Ireland international delivered a player of the match performance on his return to provincial action against Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship at the RDS on Saturday.
Although he didn’t get on the scoresheet in a bonus point triumph that moved Leinster to the summit of the URC, Keenan – one of 13 players from Ireland’s World Cup squad to feature in the game – provided the spadework for a 50th-minute try from Garry Ringrose. Moments earlier, he produced an excellent tackle to force Scarlets scrum-half Kieran Hardy into touch with the whitewash in sight.
“Hugo, I thought he was exceptional. For the international guys coming back in, it’s definitely a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them played a good few minutes at the World Cup, some of them haven’t played a huge amount,” the Leinster head coach remarked.
“I thought it was a good shout for man of the match for him, because I thought he was excellent all the way through the game. Lots of different positive moments in attack, but again you highlight that piece in defence in terms of that scramble and the impact he makes on the tackle. I thought he was excellent.”
Following the opening minute sin-binning of Scarlets centre Johnny Williams for a dangerous tackle on Ringrose, Leinster laid out their stall with tries from Sam Prendergast (his first in professional club rugby), Jimmy O’Brien and Max Deegan. However, Scarlets subsequently enjoyed an extended spell of possession in the second quarter and the returning Williams eventually got through for an unconverted five-pointer.
Nevertheless, Leinster still brought a commanding 19-5 cushion into the break and after coming to the rescue of his side at one end, Keenan turned creator for Ringrose’s five-pointer on the stroke of 50 minutes. While this sealed a fourth successive bonus point, the hosts continued to inflict damage on the Welsh region with Jamie Osborne adding his name to the scoresheet on the hour mark.
Ireland U20s Grand Slam winner Fintan Gunne made his Leinster debut off the bench inside the final quarter and he set up tries for Jack Boyle and Osborne (his second) in the closing stages. His successful conversion to the latter score brought replacement fly-half Ross Byrne beyond 1,000 points for Leinster and there was just enough time on the clock for Deegan to double his own haul in an ultimately one-sided affair.
A tougher challenge will await Leinster against Munster at the Aviva Stadium this coming Saturday, but considering their arch-rivals got the better of them in their last meeting at the venue – a URC semi-final in May of this year – it is a game that Keenan and his Leinster team-mates are eagerly awaiting.
“It will be good to be back in the Aviva. The squad is hungry, everyone wants to be playing in that match. I didn’t play in the one we lost in the Aviva, but I would have loved to have been out there. Hopefully I’ll be able to get out there this week in the Aviva. Hopefully there’ll be a big Leinster support there,” Keenan said.
Tries – J Osborne (2), M Deegan (2), S Prendergast, J O’Brien, G Ringrose, J Boyle. Cons – S Prendergast (3), R Byrne (4).
Tries – J Williams.
H Keenan; J Larmour, G Ringrose, J Osborne, J O’Brien; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Clarkson; J McCarthy, J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris.
D Sheehan for Kelleher, T Furlong for Clarkson, R Byrne for Prendergast (all 51), J Boyle for Porter, R Molony for Ryan, F Gunne for Gibson-Park (all 61), C Frawley for Ringrose (67), S Penny for McCarthy (71).
T Rogers; T Lewis, J Davies, J Williams, R Conbeer; C Titcombe, K Hardy; S Thomas, S Evans, H O’Connor; A Craig, J Price; B Williams, T Leatherbarrow, C Tuipulotu.
W Jones for Thomas (46), M Jones for Craig (51), I Shenton for B Williams, I Nicholas for Rogers (both 57), R Elias for S Evans, S Williams for J Williams (both 61), S O’Connor for H O’Connor, A Hughes for Hardy (both 65).
H Davidson (SRU).