RUGBY
Byrne continues fine form as Leinster book home quarter-final
By Daire Walsh
KILL’S Adam Byrne further enhanced his growing reputation at the RDS on Friday evening, when he was on the scoresheet for Leinster in their emphatic 57-3 victory over a beleaguered Montpellier in the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Byrne linked up superbly with man-of-the-match Jack Conan (who finished with a hat-trick of tries for the Blues) for a first-half try, and thanks to eight touchdowns over the course of a one-sided affair, Leinster have booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup as winners of Pool Four.
Byrne was selected alongside skipper Isa Nacewa and the in-form Rory O’Loughlin in the back-three, while his fellow Kildare native James Tracy was making his seventh start of the season in the front-row. He was joined there by the Irish international duo of Jack McGrath and Tadhg Furlong, and hot on the heels of his scoring appearance as a replacement against Zebre, Naas’ Jamie Heaslip returned to the pivotal No 8 position.
The hosts were aiming to make amends for their away defeat to the Top 14 outfit in October, but despite opening the scoring with a converted Nacewa try on 15 minutes, a penalty by Frans Steyn kept Montpellier in touch.
Yet, Leo Cullen’s charges responded with Conan’s maiden score of the contest, and when Steyn received a red-card for a reckless high challenge on Jonathan Sexton with 27 minutes gone on the clock, the Blues never looked back.
Nacewa added a routine penalty for the three-time European champions, and after Byrne finished off a fine attacking move just before the half-hour mark, Leinster established a commanding 24-3 lead.
This meant they were within touching distance of a bonus point, and 15 minutes after the restart, another Conan score ensured that they would emerge with the maximum points on offer. Montpellier’s heads had dropped by this stage, and courtesy of additional five-pointers by Luke McGrath, Cian Healy, Conan and Garry Ringrose, Leinster cruised towards their fourth win of the campaign.
They will be joined in the last-eight by Munster – who secured a dramatic 14-12 triumph over Glasgow Warriors on Saturday – and Connacht have also given themselves a fighting chance heading into the final round of games this weekend.
Ballymore Eustace man Craig Ronaldson was back at inside centre for the Westerners against Zebre at the Sportsgrounds, and he was amongst the try scorers in a comprehensive 66-21 success. James Connolly of Naas also made an appearance in the second-half, and although they are suffering an injury crisis at the moment, they will be hoping for another positive result against Toulouse on Sunday.
Meanwhile, there was disappointment for the Kildare contingent in the Leinster ‘A’ side who fell to a third reversal in five British & Irish Cup fixtures against Nottingham on Friday evening. Billy Dardis and Jimmy O’Brien featured from the start for Hugh Hogan’s men, while Jeremy Loughman was a 58th-minute replacement for Oisin Heffernan in a 28-24 loss.