RUGBY COLUMN – SEPTEMBER 26
By Daire Walsh
THERE was disappointment for Leinster at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein last Friday evening as, despite the best efforts of Barry Daly, they came out on the wrong side of the result against Toyota Cheetahs in their second game of the province’s Tour of South Africa.
A comfortable victory against the Southern Kings six days earlier at Port Elizabeth had helped the Blues to maintain their 100% winning start to the PRO14, but following the episode that led to Isa Nacewa and Jamison Gibson-Park initially being refused entry into the southern hemisphere nation, Leinster had to deal with another off-field issue en route to their second destination in South Africa.
While Nacewa and Gibson-Park managed to secure visas in time for the encounter with the Cheetahs, but because of a ‘misunderstanding around the use of a laptop during the approach to take off’, Cian Healy was asked to leave the plane that was due to take Leinster from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town.
He eventually joined up with the rest of the squad after getting a spot on the next available flight with the same airline, and though it was a scenario they would have preferred to avoid, they had a number of days to regain their focus for their meeting with the Cheetahs.
The Kildare duo of Joey Carbery and James Tracy were included in the Leinster starting line-up, and it proved to be a dream start for the visitors. Ernst Stapelberg had broken the deadlock for the Cheetahs with an opening minute penalty, but winger Barry Daly responded with a fifth-minute try for Leo Cullen’s outfit.
After their heavy defeat to Ulster in Belfast in the opening round of the competition, the Cheetahs were aiming to avoid another major set-back, and Stapelberg restored his side’s lead with another successful place-kick.
He created further daylight with a six-point salvo, and thanks to a 36th-minute touchdown by William Small-Smith, they brought a 19-5 cushion into the break. With home advantage helping the Cheetahs (even though it was once again played in front of a sparse crowd), Leinster were now left with a mountain to climb after the restart.
Torsten van Jaarsveld and Ox Nche tries provided Cheetahs with a seemingly insurmountable 25-point lead, before Daly responded with his second score of the night prior to the hour mark. Indeed, Daly (a regular fixture for the Leinster ‘A’ side in their recent British & Irish Cup campaigns) secured a hat-trick of tries in the closing stages of the contest, but courtesy of Luther Obi’s intercept try in the final-minute, Cheetahs emerged with a 38-19 triumph.
Meanwhile, Naas continued their excellent start in Division 1B of the Ulster Bank League, when they recorded a 28-13 success over UL Bohemians at Forenaughts. Player-coach Johne Murphy finished with an impressive personal haul of 13 points, and with Max Whittingham, Connacht flanker James Connolly and Fionn Higgins also getting their name on the scoresheet, they emerged with a bonus-point win.