Leinster 76

Zebre Parma 5

Daire Walsh reports from the Aviva Stadium

PLAYER OF THE Match Jordie Barrett recorded a brace of tries at the Aviva Stadium this evening as Leinster sealed first place in the United Rugby Championship regular season table with a 71-point demolition of Zebre Parma.

Eager to move on from the disappointment of their surprise European Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton Saints in the same venue seven days earlier, Leinster registered 12 tries against their overwhelmed Italian counterparts to open up a nine-point cushion over Vodacom Bulls in the league standings with one round of fixtures remaining.

This ensures Leinster are set to stay on home soil for the duration of their time in the knockout phase of the URC and Leo Cullen’s men will hope this can help them to claim their first major piece of silverware in four years.

Two days after being selected for his second successive Tour with the British and Irish Lions, Jack Conan was drafted into the eastern province’s starting lineup for this game.

He played an instrumental role in Leinster’s breakthrough score in the third minute as he broke impressively into the Zebre 22′ before offloading for Rónan Kelleher to dive over in the right-corner for a converted try.

Kelleher and Conan were two of six players in the Leinster starting line-up who will be part of the Lions squad for their upcoming journey to Australia – there were three more call-ups on the bench – and another of this sextet was a key creative force behind their next five-pointer at Irish Rugby HQ.

With less than five minutes gone on the clock, Josh van der Flier was picked out on the left-wing by Conan and the openside flanker proceeded to pass inside for scrum-half Luke McGrath to cross over for his fifth try of the current season.

While Prendergast was off-target with his latest conversion attempt, the 22-year-old out-half did supply the extras to Ryan Baird’s 18th-minute finish over the whitewash. This already had Leinster within sight of a bonus point and their fourth try inevitably arrived inside the second quarter.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Leinster coaching staff in the aftermath of the province’s surprise defeat to Northampton was the decision not to start New Zealand international Barrett. The All Blacks star was restored to their first 15 on this occasion and after excellent approach work from Jimmy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose and Prendergast paved the way for him to secure Leinster’s bonus point on 26 minutes, he subsequently bagged his second try of the action just past the half-hour mark.

The Zebre defence were being placed under constant pressure and even though their lead was already substantial, there was enough time left on the clock in the opening period for James Lowe to claim his fifth try in just four games for Leinster.

This unconverted effort helped the hosts to establish an unassailable 38-0 cushion at the interval and the gap between the teams became even larger when Barrett teed up Prendergast on the restart for a 44th-minute try that he also converted.

Van der Flier also added his name to the scoresheet when he pounced on a loose ball deep inside the Zebre half moments later and this proved to be his final act of the contest.

Despite the fact there was still 30 minutes left to play, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen opted to introduce seven replacements at once.

Amongst the cohort to enter the fray on the stroke of 50 minutes was the fit-again James Ryan and Ciarán Frawley – who was making his 100th senior appearance for the province.

Supplementing an earlier five-pointer from full-back Jamie Osborne (one of Leinster’s best performers on the day), Frawley capped his milestone outing in the blue jersey with a try on 61 minutes that was made possible by fine build-up play from O’Brien.

15th in the URC table with just five wins to their name in the current term, Zebre finally opened their account 14 minutes from time when scrum-half Gonzalo Garcia supplied the finishing touches to an attacking move on the right-flank.

While this briefly halted Leinster’s momentum, they ultimately finished the game on a high. Following a neat five-pointer from back-row replacement James Culhane, Osborne was on hand to bag his second try of the game in stoppage-time.

Leinster scorers:

Tries – Jordie Barrett 2, Jamie Osborne 2, Rónan Kelleher, Luke McGrath, Ryan Baird, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Josh van der Flier, Ciarán Frawley, James Culhane

Conversions – Sam Prendergast [6/8], Ciarán Frawley [2/4]

Zebre Parma scorers:

Tries – Gonzalo Garcia

Conversions – Giacomo Da Re [0/1]

LEINSTER: Jamie Osborne; Jimmy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose (Robbie Henshaw ’50), Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast (Ciarán Frawley ’50), Luke McGrath (Jamison Gibson-Park ’30-’35 & ‘67); Jack Boyle (Andrew Porter ’50), Rónan Kelleher (John McKee ’50), Thomas Clarkson (Rabah Slimani ’50); Joe McCarthy (James Ryan ’50), Diarmuid Mangan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier (James Culhane ’50), Jack Conan.

ZEBRE PARMA: Jacopo Trulla (Alessandro Fusco ‘54); Scott Gregory, Fetuli Paea, Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi; Giovanni Montemauri (Giacomo Da Re ’54), Gonzalo Garcia; Luca Franceschetto (Muhamed Hasa ’30), Giampietro Ribaldi (Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 48), Juan Pitinari (Ion Neculai ’62); Rusiate Nasove (Matteo Canali ’59), Leonard Krumov; Bautista Stavile (Filippo Drago ’70), Iacopo Bianchi, Davide Ruggeri (Giacomo Ferrari ’70).

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU).