Leinster rout Connacht for first Rainbow Cup win

MATCH REPORT: Hugo Keenan scored a hat-trick of tries as Leinster came from 16 points down to claim their first PRO14 Rainbow Cup win with a 50-21 victory over provincial rivals Connacht at the Sportsground.

Stung into action by Connacht’s strong start, Leo Cullen men’s reeled off tries from Keenan (2), James Tracy, Ross Molony and Cian Kelleher to lead 33-16 at half-time.

With last week’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat to La Rochelle still raw, 2021 British and Irish Lion Andrew Porter, Scott Fardy and player of the match Keenan took their side’s haul to eight tries while Peter Sullivan added to Caolin Blade’s earlier touch down for Connacht.

Number eight Jack Conan, another of Leinster’s Lions picks, went off injured during the first half but it looked a precautionary withdrawal.

Buoyed by their recent Round 1 victory at Ulster, Connacht made the early running with Conor Fitzgerald knocking over two penalties.

The Westerners made it 13 unanswered points through Blade’s opportunist try, Finlay Bealham getting in to disrupt Luke McGrath’s pass and Blade nabbed the bouncing ball for a 40-metre run-in.

The score, converted by Fitzgerald, survived a captain’s challenge and was supplemented by another Fitzgerald penalty.

However, Leinster’s counter-rucking from the restart supplied possession for Keenan’s opening try as the fullback raided over from Ciaran Frawley’s cleverly delayed pass.

Making it two quick-fire converted tries, Keenan then slipped out of a tackle to finish off some smart phases by both backs and forwards.

Leinster’s impressive maul set up their next two scores, firstly driving hooker Tracy over from 15 metres out for a 19-16 lead.

The PRO14 champions drove Connacht backwards again before Molony burrowed over for a 28th-minute bonus point. Connacht’s unsuccessful captain’s challenge was compounded by game-ending injuries to Jarrad Butler and Matt Healy.

Two minutes before the break, Ross Byrne’s pinpoint cross-field kick found Rory O’Loughlin who sent Kelleher scampering clear from 40 metres out. Byrne added a fine conversion from wide out.

Connacht had no answer to Leinster’s dominant drives as the lineout provided the platform for Tracy and Fardy to plunge over after 45 and 52 minutes respectively, while Byrne sent over his fifth conversion.

The hosts went close through Dave Heffernan before Sean O’Brien superbly dislodged the ball to deny Dave Kearney a breakaway try.

Eleven minutes from time, Connacht wing O’Sullivan beat two tackles for a deserved score.

Leinster had more in them and fittingly it was the tireless Keenan who completed his hat-trick in the 78th minute, following up on an initial break by Josh Van Der Flier.

The scorers:

For Connacht

Tries: Blade, Sullivan

Con: Fitzgerald

Pens: Fitzgerald 3

For Leinster

Tries: Keenan 3, Tracy, Molony, Kelleher, Porter, Fardy

Cons: Byrne 5

Teams

Connacht: 15 John Porch, 14 Peter Sullivan, 13 Sean O’Brien, 12 Tom Daly, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Conor Fitzgerald, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Jarrad Butler (captain), 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Eoghan Masterson, 5 Gavin Thornbury, 4 Niall Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Jonny Murphy, 17 Matthew Burke, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 Cian Prendergast, 20 Abraham Papali’i, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Sammy Arnold, 23 Oran McNulty.

Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Ciarán Frawley, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath (captain), 8 Jack Conan, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Scott Fardy, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 James Tracy, 1 Peter Dooley.

Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Rowan Osborne, 22 Rory O’Loughlin, 23 Jordan Larmour.

Referee: Frank Murphy

Assistant referees: Andrew Brace, Peter Martin

TMO: Brian MacNeice