Leinster dish out lesson to woeful Sharks

Leinster’s more clinical execution allied to the Shark’s inability to turn opportunities into points, especially in the first half, saw the powerful Irish outfit predictably claim a spot in the semifinal for the United Rugby Championships in Dublin on Saturday. 

Leinster, already in the final of the Champions Cup, outscored the Sharks by five tries to one in a 35-5 victory at the Aviva Stadium. Leinster’s greater proficiency made the Sharks look amateurish at times, with the visiting team’s poor decision-making, bad defence and inconsistency, when in possession, alarming. 

Besides Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth, the absence of flyhalf Curwin Bosch hurt the Sharks badly as well, with Boeta Chamberlain, shifted from fullback to flyhalf and Aphelele Fassi both guilty of poor kicking out of hand.

Among the Sharks forwards, 20-year-old lock Corne Rahl, produced an eye-catching performance, featuring prominently in the robust exchanges between the respective packs. They also held the ascendancy in the scrums, with tight head Carlu Sadie, who replaced Thomas du Toit in the 25th minute, and Ox Nche, dominating the Leinster front row that included Tadgh Furlong and Cian Healy. 

As a result scrumhalf Grant Williams had pockets of space in which to work, creating and scoring an excellent try in the seventh minute when he stepped between two Leinster tight forwards before outpacing the cover defence. 

But for all that forward supremacy, the Sharks weren’t able to put Leinster under sufficient pressure for sustained periods.

The Irish club, playing away from their usual home ground which was being used for a Bruce Springsteen concert, quickly showed the Sharks who was boss. Caelan Doris, a menace for the Sharks all afternoon, crashed over for a well worked try after a five-metre line-out. In the process, Makazole Mapimpi picked up a yellow card for a head-high tackle. 

Leinster used that period to put the game beyond the Sharks, much as they did when Toulouse went down to 14 men in last weekend’s Champions Cup semifinal, scoring two tries. The first saw prop Michael Milne barge over after several infringements from the Sharks close to their own line. 

Thereafter a break from their own 22m area following the kickoff, with the Sharks missing a number of tackles, led to flyhalf Harry Byrne producing an excellent cross-field kick which allowed Jordan Lamour to exploit the space vacated by Mapimpi for an easy try.

The Sharks butchered opportunities off a five-metre line-out and gave away a stupid free kick scrum under the Leinster posts, heading into the break 5-21 down. 

They started the second half well but again were wasteful either misdirecting passes, turning over possession or giving away silly penalties. Certainly Kolisi, Etzebeth and Bosch’s leadership was missed, but there was sufficient experience in their ranks to have provided better composure.

All Leinster had to do was bide their time and they were able to add a couple of more tries, thanks to flanker Max Deegan and replacement halfback Jamison Gibson-Park, to their tally to help keep alive their quest for the ‘double’.