RUGBY
Leinster remain on course for home semi-final
By Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING a tentative opening period of action, Leinster eventually secured their 15th Guinness Pro12 victory of 2015/16 at home to Edinburgh at the RDS last Friday evening.
Just under two weeks on from their hard-earned triumph over arch rivals Munster at the Aviva Stadium, it was important that Leo Cullen’s charges maintained their momentum, and this win keeps their hopes of securing a home Pro12 semi-final at the end of the current term very much alive.
With the upcoming tour of South Africa in the back of the IRFU’s mind, Naas’ Jamie Heaslip was rested for this encounter, but after making a cameo appearance against Munster, Suncroft native Fergus McFadden was handed his 16th provincial start of the season.
He made a sizeable contribution to the scoreboard for the Blues, but despite enjoying a numerical advantage towards the latter stages of the first-half, the hosts were struggling to make attacking inroads against the Scottish outfit.
Jason Tovey had broken the deadlock with a third-minute penalty for the visitors, before fly-half Ian Madigan helped Leinster to create a 6-3 cushion with a brace of successful place-kicks.
This was how the score remained when the teams entered the dressing room at the midway stage, but courtesy of a try from scrum-half Luke McGrath upon the resumption, the tempo of the game increased considerably.
Edinburgh did respond with a five-pointer by winger Tom Brown, before Josh van der Flier eased the home faithful’s nerves by touching down for his third try in a Leinster shirt.
It was then left to McFadden to secure two consecutive tries for the three-time champions, and this ensured that Leinster would end the game with a bonus point to their name.
A resilient Edinburgh did cross the whitewash through Mike Allen and Sean Kennedy in the final-quarter, and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne also split the posts from a late penalty, but Leinster ultimately claimed a 30-23 success.
As a result, Leinster are currently at the summit of the Pro12 table heading into their Week 21 encounter with Ulster at Kingspan Stadium, but it is only score difference that separates them from the outstanding Connacht.
Pat Lam’s Westerners were facing into an early 6-14 deficit at home to interprovincial counterparts Munster on Saturday evening, until their opponents suffered a set-back when they had two players sent to the sin-bin in the second-quarter. In this juncture, Connacht crossed over through winger Niyi Adeolokun – before a supremely-manufactured penalty try edged them into a 20-14 interval lead.
This placed Connacht in pole position to seal their first-ever home and away double over Munster, and while Ballymore’s Craig Ronaldson was absent again because of injury, Kildare duo James Connolly and Fionn Carr played their part from the replacements bench.
Indeed, further tries arrived after the restart from Adeolokun and Irish international Finlay Bealham, as Connacht registered an exceptional 35-14 victory. This bonus-point win secured Connacht’s qualification for next season’s European Rugby Champions Cup, and they are also expected to confirm their Pro12 play-off place when they face Benetton Treviso on Friday week.