By Brenden Nel.
Irish powerhouse Leinster bounced back from their opening defeat at the hands of Glasgow Warriors last week to sweep aside the Hollywoodbets Sharks with ease 34-13 in their first Vodacom United Rugby Championship home game at RDS STadium on Saturday night.
Leinster were good in their execution and while they weren’t perfect in their execution, they were streets ahead of a poor Sharks side that never really got onto the front foot.
The Sharks were well beaten at the breakdown, but also didn’t create enough quality ball and made a plethora of handling errors that cost them against a tough Leisnter team.
To think this same fixture last year was one of the games of the season, this time around there was only one side on the park as the Sharks slumped to two losses from two games in the new season.
To be fair both games were on the road, but it showed how much work there is for John Plumtree to do to get the side to meet the expectations of their fanbase.
But while most coaches will be looking for positives if their team loses, the Sharks have little to celebrate after conceding five tries to one.
And when you think that their only try was scored in the 79th minute, when the game was already lost, it says a lot about their strike power and consistency.
Leinster started off incredibly well and were always going to be tough to play after they lost their opening game in Glasgow last weekend.
It took just four minutes for Jordan Lamour to cross the tryline and open the scoring for the home side as the defence was stretched and Lamour found the perfect home to score.
The Sharks hit back with two penalties in the first half to take a narrow lead but Leinster managed to extend it when Max Deegan popped over the tryline from close range.
That’s how it stayed until early in the second half when Rob Russell scored the first of his two tries and it just got worse for the Sharks.
But first Leinster lost Lee Baron to a yellow card and extended their lead with a penalty by Harry Byrne.
Aphiwe Dyantyi made his way onto the field to resume his comeback after a four year absence from competitive pro rugby in South Africa. But while he looked for work, he made to little an impact to stop the Leinster juggernaut.
Russell added his name to the scoresheet by finishing off an exceptional attack which once again had the Sharks team on the back foot.
As time ticked on it became inevitably clear that the Sharks didn’t have the firepower to strike back. Despite several forays into Leinster’s half, they gave up too many penalties at the breakdown where Leinster were feasting for days on the mutitude of good ball they received.
And when Leinster got the chance, they didn’t waste it. Winger Tommy O’Brien ghosted through a gap to give his side an unassailbale lead.
Things went from bad to worse for the Sharks when Aphele Fassi dropped a ball in his own 22 area and Russell scooped it up to run in a gift try and put themselves out of reach from the chasing Sharks.
To the visitors credit they did fight until the end, when hooker Dylan Richardson finally broke away at the back of the maul and powered his way over, being rewarded as he broke away from the maul to go over and score the Sharks first try of the evening.
All in all it was a performance that the Sharks will want to forget as soon as possible and turn their attention to their last two away games before returning home.
Because the lesson they learnt last season on how to counter Leinster wasn’t heeded in any form, and for that they paid the price.
Scorers
Leinster – tries: Jordan Lamour, Max Deegan, Rob Russell (2), Tommy O’Brien. Conversions: Harry Byrne (2), Sam Prendergast. Penalties: Byrne
Hollywoodbets Sharks – try: Dylan Richardson. Conversion: Boeta Chamberlain. Penalties: Curwin Bosch (2).