Two key spells of about seven minutes’ duration apiece – the first a remarkable response to being 7-0 in arrears and two players down, and then a 21-point salvo early in the second period which effectively decided the contest – ensure Leinster are up and running again with a five-point haul at the outset of another search for that elusive fifth star.
Their 35-12 win over Pat Lam’s Premiership high-flyers, Bristol, at a rainswept and windy Ashton Gate was as capricious as the weather. With the elements behind them, and after a scoreless first half, Leinster drew the first half, but facing into them, they won the second by four tries to one and 28-5.
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“You’re looking around and what was it, 0-0 after 30 minutes and with two teams that want to play good attacking rugby. You’re wondering how is that the case?” said Leo Cullen afterwards, still looking slightly bewildered by it all.
“Bristol score then when we’re down to 13 players and we click into gear straight away and we score a great try to go seven-all. Listen, I can’t explain it. Obviously the wind forces your hand. It almost takes the decision to kick. You have to play and carry and run.
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“In that period when we’re 14 on 14, I think that’s the period we’re very dominant in the game, make good decisions, strong carries, good variety in our game and asked lots of different questions of Bristol from a defensive point of view.
“We’re delighted to get a win away from home. Apologies to the fans there for some of the stoppages in the game, but that’s the nature of the game these days, isn’t it?”
The turning point, or points, happened off the pitch, as first Cullen introduced the multi-purpose, multi-talented and multi-positional Jordie Barrett, before making a quadruple substitution early in the second by bringing on Andrew Porter, Thomas Clarkson, RG Snyman and Caelan Doris.
Barrett had the assist for the first of a brace by Sam Prendergast, who scored 20 points on his silkily smooth Champions Cup debut, and then marked his debut with one of his own (when noticeably mobbed by his new team-mates) before Snyman laid on Prendergast’s second.
“Ciaran [Frawley] went off with a knock to his back at half-time, so it was an amazing experience to be able to bring him [Barrett] off the bench.
“It’s taken a lot of work to get him here, he’s down with one of his brothers downstairs, not the brothers you’re thinking of, the cricketer,” said Cullen in reference to the London-based Blake Barrett.
“So, he’ll play a big part over the course of the season. Quality person, quality player. We weren’t sure how we’d get him up and running, we thought it was sensible to have him on the bench as he figures out a number of things this week and the tail end of last week.
“Hopefully he kicks on, goes from strength to strength. When you bring someone in from the outside you just want to make sure they add. He has an interesting connection to Leinster going back to when he was a youngster. He had a fascination to here, so we’re lucky to have him and hopefully he’ll be able to have a good run with us.”
As for Prendergast, Cullen said: “Sam definitely came alive during that period when it was 14 on 14, he scores two of the three tries we did score, so a great outing for him today.”
Leinster have a six-day turnaround before facing Clermont at the Aviva next Saturday. “Overall, we’re pretty pleased,” said Cullen. “It was a tricky fixture for us particularly with Bristol being one of the most cohesive teams in the Premiership at the moment. They’re going well and they’ll still be bashing away in this tournament.”
Leinster’s win, on balance, completed a positive first weekend for the provinces albeit, unsurprisingly, a weakened Ulster were pummelled 61-21 by the champions Toulouse, who had their bonus point by the 27th minute and six tries in the first half had them 40-14 by the interval.
Munster would possibly have been happier at the prospect of a bonus point 33-7 win over Stade Francais before the game or even halfway through it, than they were afterwards given the Parisians incurred two red cards.
“We lost our way a bit for 15 minutes or so and it turned into a strange game but 60 minutes we were really happy with,” said interim head coach Ian Costello. Munster meet old foes Castres in the Pierre Fabre next Friday night and Jeremy Davidson’s side are liable to be trickier than when losing 38-8 to Northampton. “They’re quite different,” said Costello of their opening two Top 14 opponents. “Castres is a different battle. Very, very strong up front, very physical, brutal. We’re expecting a toe-to-toe battle in a very tough place to play.”
Connacht also head to Perpignan with five points accrued from their opening 43-12 win at home to Zebre in the Champions Cup, which featured a trio of debutants from Corinthians in Chay Mullins and the academy duo of 21-year-old tighthead prop Fiachna Barrett and 20-year-old outhalf Seán Naughton.
Mullins was man of the match with a hat-trick while captain and number 8 Paul Boyle scored two and had a big hand in two others to mark his 100th Connacht game with a tour de force.
“I thought Boyler was magnificent,” said head coach Pete Wilkins. “He’s lost a bit of form and fitness at different times and he’s just worked so hard to get back and I think he’s in the form of his life. He’s a terrific human being and he’s playing really, really well.”
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