The wheels had to come off the bandwagon some time and it crashed in spectacular fashion at the Royal Dublin Showground.
After three narrow Scottish wins in the Heineken Cup, this was a hefty Scottish defeat. They were hammered in the first half as Leinster turned on the style with four tries, and any improvements the Warriors made after the break have to be judged against the fact that the holders were already throttling back.
The Glasgow pack failed to fire, lacking the dynamism and efficiency of their opponents. The Irish side were slick and quick through the phases, but Glasgow’s efforts were laboured in comparison. The best of Richie Gray was seen only in his tackling, and if Ryan Wilson came on to a game near the end it has to be admitted that he had been pretty inconspicuous earlier on. The brightest spots were found in the counterattacking of Stuart Hogg and the resilience of Chris Cusiter, but the collective effort fell far short of what was required to keep Glasgow’s winning streak on track.
Leinster were coasting towards the finish, although coach Joe Schmidt suggested that Glasgow had put them under pressure throughout the second half. Maybe so, but the Leinster defence was solid and Glasgow lacked the sparks of imagination that had illuminated the Irish side’s performance earlier in the game. In contact, Glasgow were always struggling to get the go-forward that Leinster’s outstanding back-row had provided.
Glasgow might have trailed on the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter, but they had done enough good things to believe they could really make a game of it. When Devon Toner, the Irish lock who even Gray looks up to, was yellow-carded for taking Al Kellock out illegally at a lineout, their confidence was nudged even higher. Yet by the time Toner returned, they had coughed up two tries to the European champions and were on the wrong end of a 24-6 scoreline.
Both touchdowns were claimed by Eoin O’Malley, demonstrating a sharpness at outside-centre that the injured Brian O’Driscoll would have been proud of. For the first, after 25 minutes, Glasgow were caught cold when Leinster took a quick tap penalty, worked the ball through a number of phases and sent O’Malley after a powerful thrust by Lions No.8 Jamie Heaslip. Five minutes later, Heaslip made another telling contribution, driving hard from a scrum to allow the half-back combination of Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton to make the space the midfielder needed.
The critical factor was the pace and power the Leinster forwards produced on the ball. Glasgow were rocked back on their heels by the strength of the Irish side’s mauling and the efficiency of their rucking, and the gap between the two sides was emphasised by their own shortcomings in both areas. Maddeningly, on the few occasions Glasgow did take the ball deep into Leinster territory during the first half, they promptly turned the thing over.
A half-time scoreline of 31-6 against Glasgow suggested that the second period would be a damage limitation exercise. They had gathered their points with a couple of penalties by Duncan Weir, but had never remotely threatened the Leinster line.
By contrast, Leinster already had their bonus point in the bag by that stage. Aside from O’Malley’s double, they had collected another two tries, the first falling to full-back Rob Kearney in the fourth minute, after a brilliant popped pass by Isa Nacewa. Their last score of the half was by Gordon D’Arcy, with Nacewa again the provider, just a minute before the break.
Glasgow also suffered a blow when the face injury picked up by John Barclay towards the end of the first period meant he stayed in the dressing room after the interval. Chris Fusaro took the flanker’s place, and Glasgow did at least look more energised in the third quarter, churning possession through the phases and spending long periods in the Leinster 22.
The home side, however, were as sound near their own line as they had been sharp near their opponent’s, and the hour mark passed without Glasgow making an inroad into the 25-point deficit. Leinster emptied their bench by bringing on three substitutes at once, a clear indication that they thought the game was won.
That impression was reinforced a few minutes later when Warriors winger Tommy Seymour was out-paced by Heaslip as he chased a loose ball into the Leinster 22. Edinburgh might have made up a similar shortfall against Racing Metro on Friday evening, but Glasgow had none of the alacrity in attack that their countrymen had shown at Murrayfield. The steam had also gone out of Leinster’s game, although they at least had an excuse for taking things easy.
Glasgow finally woke the scoreboard operators up when Troy Nathan, the centre who looked sharp after coming on for Peter Murchie, burst away and put a try on a plate for Henry Pyrgos, the substitute scrum-half. Weir added the conversion, but it was only right that Leinster should have the last word at the end of such an emphatic and clinical performance, and it was duly added when Isaac Boss scuttled over for their fifth try in the final move of the match.
analysis After a thrilling fortnight for Scottish rugby, the Heineken Cup holders inflict a sobering defeat on Glasgow
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