Pre-season continues to gather pace for Leinster
By Daire Walsh
LEINSTER continued their pre-season preparations at Tallaght Stadium on Saturday afternoon, when they survived a final-quarter surge by Gloucester to claim a hard-earned 26-24 triumph.
This victory followed a similarly encouraging success over Ulster in Navan seven days earlier, and they will also welcome Bath to Donnybrook this Friday evening for the province’s final warm-up game before the start of their 2016/17 Guinness Pro12 campaign.
This encounter once again provided Leinster head coach Leo Cullen with an ideal opportunity to mix youth with experience, and although nine players retained their place in the starting line-up from the Ulster game, there was nevertheless a fresh look to the team that faced the Aviva Premiership outfit. While Jamie Heaslip is yet to return (his recent wedding and status as a front-line international star means that he is unlikely to feature for another couple of weeks at least), Kildare were still strongly represented on the day.
Kill’s Adam Byrne joined Niall Morris and Barry Daly in the back-three for the second week running, with Fergus McFadden appearing from the replacements bench – alongside Athy duo Joey Carbery and Jeremy Loughman.
Gloucester had a number of international performers within their squad for this game, and with former Irish out-half David Humphreys currently in charge of the Kingsholm Stadium men, they were eager to make a sizeable impression in the south Dublin venue (which recently hosted Dundalk FC’s memorable Champions League qualifier win against BATE Borisov).
Indeed, after withstanding early pressure from the hosts, Gloucester eventually broke the deadlock courtesy of a 12th-minute try from Tongan winger David Halaifonua. Fly-half Billy Burns was off-target from the subsequent conversion, but as the first-quarter progressed, the visitors continued to cause problems for Leinster.
Yet, the Blues eventually weathered this storm, and following an intelligent kick-through by Morris, Byrne claimed a hard-earned try just shy of the half-hour mark. This score was the catalyst for a barnstorming end to the half, as a brace of converted tries from scrum-half Nick McCarthy helped Leinster to develop a 14-point lead.
However, there was just enough time for Gloucester to end this scoring sequence, and a second try from Halaifonua in first-half stoppage-time ensured that Leinster’s advantage had been reduced to 19-12 in time for the break.
As expected, both sides made wholesale personnel changes for the start of the second period, but Leinster ultimately extended their cushion 14 minutes after the resumption. Carbery – who took over from Cathal Marsh in the half-back division – embarked on an outstanding run on the left-wing, and his neat off-load left Rory O’Loughlin with the simple task of touching down beyond the Gloucester line.
With Carbery adding the bonuses, Leinster were now in a commanding position, and even though Gloucester fought back with tries from English star Ben Morgan and Henry Purdy, the home team held out for a narrow win in the end.