Staff Reporter.
Leinster beat Lions 21-13 at the RDS to move four points clear at the top of the United Rugby Championship table.
Flanker Jaco Kriel’s late touchdown reduced Lions’ deficit but they fell short of securing a losing bonus-point.
Jordan Henrikse landed two penalties and Tiann Swanepoel one conversion.
On his return from injury, fly-half Hendrikse was off target with two early penalty attempts as the Lions left points behind them.
Leinster punished them with a free-flowing try, Tommy O’Brien popping up in midfield for a key pass out of a tackle before Jamie Osborne and Max O’Reilly sent Kearney over in the left corner in the sixth minute.
Reliable number 10 Byrne floated over the difficult conversion but the Lions proved tough to break down.
Ruben Schoeman forced a turnover penalty, which Hendrikse sent through the uprights in the 12th minute.
Kearney was stopped a few metres out after combining again with O’Reilly and then a promising line-out opportunity for the visitors was bundled into touch.
Lions scrum-half Morne van den Berg then threatened on a brilliant side-stepping run before Dan Leavy came to Leinster’s rescue.
Quan Horn pinched a pass as the home side looked destined for a try and Hendrikse’s 36th-minute penalty punished Devin Toner for not rolling away.
Kriel did very well to deny Leavy a try just before the break but Leinster resumed in the ascendancy.
Prop Ala’alatoa drove over in the 47th minute after Leinster had played with successive penalty advantages and Byrne’s conversion made it 14-6.
Kearney and O’Brien carved through on counter-attacking runs, the home pack using the resulting line-out to send flanker Penny over.
Byrne’s boot pushed the margin out to 15 points but Leinster were forced back on the defensive and Stean Pienaar’s breakaway effort was foiled by a terrific O’Brien tackle.
The Lions got their reward in the 78th minute, Van den Berg reacting quickest after the ball had squirted out of a Leinster scrum. Kriel was fed for the score which replacement Swanepoel converted.
Leinster: O’Reilly; T O’Brien, Osborne, H. Byrne, Kearney; R Byrne, McCarthy; E Byrne, Tracy, Ala’alatoa; Toner, McCarthy; Murphy, Leavy, Ruddock.
Replacements: Cronin, Dooley, Clarkson, Dunne, Deegan, McGrath, A Byrne, Penny.
Lions: Horn; Pienaar, Simelane, Odendaal, van der Merwe; Hendrikse, van den Berg; Sithole, Visagie, Sadie; Steenkamp, Schoeman; Kriel, Venter, Horn.
Replacements: Botha, Naude, Dreyer, Ncube, Sangweni, Steyn, Rass, Swanepoel.
Meanwhile Flyhalf Chris Smith kicked 15 points as the Vodacom Bulls ran in six tries for an emphatic United Rugby Championship victory against Zebre in Parma.
The Bulls’ first win in Italy won’t ease the pain of having lost the Rainbow Cup final against Benetton in Treviso last year, but improving to 4-6 on the season with a 45-7 win in Parma is a positive response to their recent home loss against the Sharks.
Smith was perfect, kicking six conversions and one penalty as the Bulls won the collisions and controlled the field for a higher volume of scoring opportunities.
The Bulls will rightfully be chuffed with the result but the margin of victory belies a sometimes mediocre performance. Isolated runners and slow reaction to clean made a mess of the Bulls’ attacking breakdown and they repeatedly made the hole deeper by shovelling poor passes to stationary receivers, all of which boosted the Zebre defence.
Spurts of efficient scrumming alleviated some of the pressure by parachuting the Bulls downfield, but questionable lineout management escaped Zebre from consequences on more than one occasion.
In the end, the sheer superiority of individual quality gave the Bulls a clear edge and last-placed Zebre slumped to their 20th consecutive defeat.