{"id":477228,"date":"2026-05-10T03:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/477228\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T03:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:42:13","slug":"leinster-tame-the-lions-to-improve-chances-of-top-two-urc-finish-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/477228\/","title":{"rendered":"Leinster tame the Lions to improve chances of top-two URC finish \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

URC: Leinster 31 Lions 7<\/p>\n

Comfort, satisfaction, vindication, whatever the preferred post-match emotion is for Leinster<\/a> will come from the result, a bonus-point victory, and its attendant benefits, an outside shot at making the two top going into the final round of the URC<\/a> before the knockout stages.<\/p>\n

The performance aesthetics matter a great deal less in the context of the win. There were some outstanding contributions, not least from replacement Diarmuid Mangan, a colossus in the collisions on his return from injury. A brilliant display was characterised by winning the gain-line, making important tackles and one crucial interception, but it was the consistent quality that stood out.<\/p>\n

There were others, Jamie Osborne and Rieko Ioane gelled nicely in the midfield, Jimmy O\u2019Brien was a constant threat, John McKee, Thomas Clarkson and captain James Ryan worked diligently while Max Deegan and James Culhane enabled the team to go forward. Andrew Osborne stepped in at the last minute for the injured Joshua Kenny. <\/p>\n

Ciar\u00e1n Frawley had some bright moments at fullback, but when he moved into outhalf for the final quarter it had a noticeable uplift to the tempo, precision and cutting edge to Leinster\u2019s attacking patterns. Three of the five tries came during that period, the home side nuanced but crucially clinical as replacement Hugo Keenan, Ioane and O\u2019Brien crossed for tries that copper-fastened the outcome.<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s Rieko Ioane. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

The bench had a huge impact, the arrival of the new frontrow, after conceding a free kick at an initial scrum, dominated thereafter. There was a better shape to the home side. That\u2019s not to run down some of the rugby, Sam Prendergast picked some lovely passes but there were just too many mistakes wrapped around moments of promise; individually and collectively.<\/p>\n

The opening 40-minutes offered a microcosm of Leinster\u2019s season, featuring the good and the bad, with some enterprising rugby thrown in. The province periodically struggled to make passes and tackles stick, and if they had managed those demands would have enjoyed a bigger gap than their 14-7 interval lead.<\/p>\n

Overrunning the ball carrier and unsympathetic passes had a negative effect that caused promising attacking plays to unravel. There were other glitches \u2013 a scrum that conceded a couple of penalties and a free kick, three kicks that went straight to touch, and a slight delay in moving the ball away from the breakdown \u2013 that gave the Lions a chance to re-set defensively.<\/p>\n

Yet, there was plenty to admire in the way Leinster managed to get lovely shape in their attack, facilitated by players like Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O\u2019Brien and Ciar\u00e1n Frawley using their footwork to good effect. The tone was set though by the defence in the opening half an hour, the line speed allowing them to hunt the Lions in the backfield.<\/p>\n

Tries from Jamie Osborne and Clarkson were hallmarks of what Leinster could achieve when they went error free, the one conceded to Francke Horn, a reminder that any backsliding in concentration and application would be punished by a Lions team that had scored tries freely all season. At 14-7 the game was nicely poised.<\/p>\n

\"FranckeFrancke Horn scores a try for the Lions. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Four minutes after the restart Leinster spurned another chance when Byrne was held up. A failure to identify a walk-in at one point in a prolonged sequence if they had moved the ball wider than the two square metres away from a succession of close-range surges was difficult to fathom. <\/p>\n

The arrival of Andrew Porter and Rabah Slimani didn\u2019t have the immediate desired effect, the Frenchman conceded a free-kick for standing up in his first scrum but on the next put-in Leinster were awarded a penalty \u2013 they played on \u2013 and others followed. <\/p>\n

Prendergast kicked the ball into touch-and-goal. He was replaced shortly afterwards by Keenan with Frawley moving to outhalf, but before that Leinster found themselves facing a prolonged spell in their 22, on foot of conceding two penalties, a rearguard action that was eventually lifted by a great read in defence by the outstanding Mangan, who pilfered a pass.<\/p>\n

What the home side will reflect on with pride is that they kept the Lions away from their try-line, scrambled and hustled and brought tenacity and power to the tackle area. A couple of crucial turnovers, one by Culhane and a great kick from Jamie Osborne, liberated Leinster. They never gave the visitors another sniff.<\/p>\n

Leo Cullen\u2019s side host the Ospreys next week with lots of permutations on the line, but what\u2019s inarguable is that they must win to earn home advantage for a quarter-final and beyond. Other results will have an impact. <\/p>\n

In examining the effect of the performance and leaving the result to one side, players like Managan, Frawley, O\u2019Brien, Ioane and Jamie Osborne all advanced their respective cases to make the matchday 23 for the Champions Cup final against Bordeaux in Bilbao on May 23rd. Cullen will be grateful for the headache.<\/p>\n

SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 2 MINS:<\/b> Osborne try, Prendergast con 7-0; 25:<\/b> Clarkson try, Prendergast con 14-0; 35:<\/b> Horn try, Smith con 14-7; Half-time 14-7<\/b>; 70:<\/b> Keenan try, Frawley con 21-7; 74:<\/b> Ioane try 26-7; 80: <\/b>O\u2019Brien try 31-7<\/p>\n

LEINSTER:<\/b> C Frawley; A Osborne, R Ioane, J Osborne, J O\u2019Brien; S Prendergast, L McGrath; E Byrne, J McKee, T Clarkson; B Deeny, J Ryan; M Deegan, W Connors, J Culhane. Replacements:<\/b> S Penny for Culhane (HIA, 16-25 mins), D Mangan for Connors (26), A Porter for Byrne, R Slimani for Clarkson, Penny for Deeny (all 46), D Sheehan for McKee (58), H Keenan for Prendergast (61), H Cooney for A Osborne (70), F Gunne for McGrath (74).<\/p>\n

LIONS: <\/b>Q Horn; E Cronje, H van Wyk, R Kriel, A Davids; C Smith, M van der Berg; SJ Kotze, PJ Botha, A Ntlabakanye; E Oosthuizen, R Nothnagel; S Mahashe, R Venter, F Horn. Replacements: <\/b>B Hlekani for Venter (5 mins), D Landsberg for Oosthuizen (46), F Marais for Botha, E Davids for Kotze, S Lombard for Ntlabakanye (all 62), K Mpeku for Davids (65), JC Pretorius for Mahashe (70), N Steyn for van der Berg (72). <\/p>\n

Referee:<\/b> H Davidson (SCO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"URC: Leinster 31 Lions 7 Comfort, satisfaction, vindication, whatever the preferred post-match emotion is for Leinster will come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,12861,15,16,4334,5,7,8,42271],"class_list":{"0":"post-477228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-leinster-rugby","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-match-report","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories","25":"tag-united-rugby-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116548216873864666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}