Leinster 64 Southern Kings 7
Man of the match was announced on 72 minutes. Well done Ciarán Frawley.
It was still an outing fraught with danger and worry for the Leinster medical team.
Pieter Scholtz could be famous. The Southern Kings tight head was yellow carded for body checking Garry Ringrose after the ball and just before the try of the night. Ringrose ambled back into position but Jordan Lamour entered this excuse for competitive rugby a few minutes later.
Ringrose, on his return from ankle surgery, had looked a class apart.
It’s the way he strides through tackles, feints to entice defenders and there’s that long flat pass. Different class, this remains his level should Munster’s Chris Farrell go well against Wales today.
Larmour played outside centre. His try, when it inevitably followed, was a gift from Noel Reid and the Kings defenders.
A record chasing affair in front of 10,215 well covered souls, the league’s win record, 75-7 from Ospreys v Treviso in 2016, remains intact but this was the Africans worst beating of the season so far.
The mind wanders watching Leinster cruise against these hapless tourists. Tuesday training took more from the body. Why would Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks new director in chief, allow any player who could potentially play international rugby be allowed anywhere near the South African squads in the Pro 14? European rugby is bad for business until they can join proper then it become their business.
It makes for several odd sightings among these travelling Kings – small South African forwards.
There is nothing to report about them. This experiment hopefully works out some day. Maybe it connects the hemispheres or allows the former Celtic League climb up the television rights food chain.
For now, on this chilly February night, it was a nothing match. More damaging than anything else for the reputation of Europe’s third ranked professional league (Pro D2 in France being the fourth).
Leinster lost concentration before the interval so the 50 point mark was not reached until later.
The Southern Kings will probably not ship 100 points because teams take their foot off the gas at the 40, 50 mark but lightweight Leinster – with decent showings from Academy boys and a debut for Adam Coyle – could have notched up 200.
No problem.
Some positives at work. Like Bryan Byrne. On his first game starting alongside the twin brother, Ed, the hooker had two tries and two assists in the opening avalanche. Hard carrying and soft hands, the fourth choice number two won’t stay there if he keep twisting over the try line and sending Barry Daly and Dave Kearney galloping towards the uprights.
James Tracy did return from a cracked elbow.
The scoreboard had 40-7 at the turn. The Kings hooker and captain Michael Willemse finished off a maul try on 14 minutes. That was their solitary attack of the night.
It woke Leinster up as Daly, Kearney, Byrne and Frawley breached the line without any jarring defensive activity.
Nick McCarthy was on scrumhalf duty and could be the starting number nine against Saracens on April 1st (Jamison Gibson-Park came on but could not finish). Plenty of opportunistic running, some decent sniping around the rucks but that killer pass out of contact isn’t in his game. McCarthy did not need it on 47 minutes as the lightest man on the field ran through two Kings forwards.
This inability or plain refusal to make front up tackles makes a joke of this already questionable Pro 14 experiment.
Try of the night? Easy, and Ross Byrne will not be pleased to see James Lowe gather Frawley’s boomerang-punt-pass. The Skerries outhalf already looks the part but Byrne can rest easy as a few conversions spun off target.
Scoring sequence – 4 mins: B Byrne try, 5-0; C Frawley con, 7-0; 10 mins: N McCarthy try, 12-0; C Frawley con, 14-0; 14 mins: M Willemse try, 14-5; M du Toit con, 14-7; 17 mins: B Daly try, 19-7; 22 mins: D Kearney try, 24-7; C Frawley con, 26-7; 27 mins: B Byrne try, 31-7; C Frawley con, 33-7; 33mins: C Frawley try, 38-7; C Frawley con, 40-7; 47 mins: N McCarthy try, 45-7; C Frawley con, 47-7; 53 mins: J Lowe try, 52-7; 64 mins: B Daly try, 57-7; 75 mins: J Larmour try, 62-7; C Frawley con, 64-7.
LEINSTER: D Kearney; B Daly, G Ringrose, I Nacewa (capt), J Lowe; C Frawley, N McCarthy; E Byrne, B Byrne, M Bent; M Kearney, I Nagle; Josh Murphy, W Connors, M Deegan.
Replacements: N Reid for I Nacewa, P Timmins for M Deegan (both 45 mins), J Tracy for B Byrne, P Dooley for E Byrne, A Coyle for M Bent (all 51 mins); J Larmour for G Ringrose (54 mins), R Molony for W Connors (58 mins), J Gibson-Park for N McCarthy (66 mins), N McCarthy for J Ginvson-Park (76 mins).
SOUTHERN KINGS: Y Penxe; M Makase, B Klaasen, L Vulindlu, A Volmink; M Du Toit, R Gouws; S Ferreira, M Willemse (capt), P Scholtz; S Greeff, A De Wee; E Bredenkamp, M Burger, A Ntsila.
Replacements: R Lerm M Burger (19-26 mins, blood), JP Smith for R Gouws, L Pupuma for E Brendenkamp (both 59 mins), S Coetzee for M Willemse, J Smith for P Scholtz, J Nel for T Penxe (all 70 mins).
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales).
