Friendly matches/Leinster 16; Northampton 18: Once again Leinster coach Michael Cheika emptied his bench and some more as his side yesterday almost earned their second win under his watch.
After a fractured game that got moving only in the final quarter and where replacements were replaced and the replaced came back on again, Cheika can at least go into next weekend's Celtic League opener against Ospreys having had a good look at just about everyone available to him.
With so many players tried out, including several newcomers such as Eoghan Hickey, Jamie Heaslip and Robert Kearney, there are few he has not seen, only those still on Irish pre-season duty or the injury list.
With four substitutes used before half an hour had passed, Cheika was determined to offer chances to his bench. Brian O'Meara, Bernard Jackman, Eoghan Hickey and Ronan McCormack all stepped onto the eye-catchingly lush Donnybrook surface to enter a match that lacked continuity and excitement. Six more bodies were changed at half-time making 10 of those who started the match redundant after 40 minutes.
Leinster, however, would have taken satisfaction from their try on 14 minutes, where forward aggression from David Blaney, who ripped a ball from a ruck and made ground towards the left corner, initiated the move. Brian O'Riordan kept the momentum going forward before Ben Gissing bullocked over from three yards out with a pile of bodies on him.
That at least got the crowd of over 3,000 making noise. Captain Felipe Contepomi converted the try and landed two penalties, one from Leinster's half, to go into the break 13-3 ahead, Northampton's only score coming from the boot of captain Bruce Reihana.
Northampton had shown little to worry Leinster, whose forwards were performing while visiting celebrity names like Ben Cohen and New Zealand outhalf Carlos Spencer were hardly setting the game alight.
That changed in the second half and in the closing 15 minutes Northampton pressed for the win. On 70 minutes, number eight Daniel Brown stole in from the back of a moving scrum to take Northampton to within six points.
Their second try arrived four minutes later and it was one Leinster won't like to watch on video. Replacement winger John Rudd took possession outside the Leinster 22 and began to steam down the right wing as Eoghan Hickey and Gary Brown fanned across to cover. Unfortunately neither could stop the express as Rudd ran through to touch down in the corner. The sides were just one point apart going into the dying minutes and Leinster creaking under the pressure.
Predictably Northampton got their chance to take the lead for the first time. A penalty deep in the Leinster 22 allowed Reihana step up and kick his side to a two-point victory. Late and narrow but probably deserved in the end.
Scoring sequence: 4 mins: F Contepomi pen 3-0; 15: B Gissing try, Contepomi con 10-0; 18: B Reihana pen 10-3; 33: F Contepomi pen 13-3. Half-time: 13-3. 55: Contepomi pen 16-3; 70: D Brown try, Reihana con 16-10; 74: J Rudd try 16-15; 77: Reihana pen 16-18.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; B Burke, G Stafford, F Contepomi, R Kearney; C Warner, B O'Riordan; R Corrigan, D Blaney, W Green, A Byrnes, B Gissing, C Potts, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: B O'Meara for O'Riordan (21 mins), B Jackman for Blaney (24 mins), E Hickey for Dempsey, R McCormack for Corrigan (35 mins), S Bradshaw for Byrnes, S Crawford for Heaslip, D McAllister for Stafford, J Norton for Burke, G Brown for Kearney (all half-time), G Easterby for O'Meara, D Blaney for Jackman (55 mins).
NORTHAMPTON: B Reihana; S Lamont, J Clarke, D Quinlan, B Cohen; C Spencer, M Robinson; S T Smith, D Richards, B Sturgess, S Boome, M Lord, A Rae, D Fox, D Browne. Replacements: D Brown for Boome, D Hartly for Richmond (48 mins), J Rudd for Lamont (53 mins), C Budgen for Rae (60 mins).
Referee: G Clancy (Munster)
