On a freezing day in Bath, Leinster delivered with ice-cool precision to secure a bonus-point victory before half-time. Jimmy O’Brien scored four of their 10 tries as they boosted their hopes of a favourable draw in the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.
If there was a positive for the hosts, they displayed no lack of spirit or effort, but were hopelessly outclassed by a team crammed with international quality.
The Bath head coach, Neal Hatley, had likened the Leinster fly-half, Jonathan Sexton, to Yoda before kick-off, with England’s new recruit Orlando Bailey in the role of Luke Skywalker: a box office duel between opposing No 10s.
It was a catchy line but there could be no question which player had demonstrated true mastery of their art. Sexton was sublime, as he so often is: passing and kicking with relentless accuracy and variation, unleashing Leinster’s glittering array of attacking talent, leaving Bath bereft.
“He has a smile on his face in the dressing room,” said Leinster’s head coach, Leo Cullen, of Sexton.
“He was gutted missing out on selection for the Lions and we’re definitely the beneficiaries of that. He kept himself in tip-top shape … you can see he’s a little bit rejuvenated.”
Before last week’s 13-try demolition of Montpellier, Leinster had not played for five weeks due to Covid-19-related disruption and if Cullen wanted to see his defence properly tested he got his wish in the first 10 minutes. Bath tore into the contest, but the visitors held firm and after an initial spell of pressure it was mostly one-way traffic.
Ruthless Bristol make it a black night for Scarlets
Bristol ended their Champions Cup pool phase campaign with an emphatic 52-21 bonus-point victory over the Scarlets in Llanelli. Pat Lam’s team had already qualified for the last 16 in April and a rousing finale that saw them score three tries in six minutes left Scarlets shell-shocked.
Bristol move to third in Pool B, although they will be overhauled by Munster if the Irish side defeat Wasps on Sunday and claim a bonus point.
Bristol scored eight tries and their director of rugby Lam said: “We can be serious contenders in Europe if we are more ruthless.” The Scarlets’ campaign is over.
Ulster survived a late scare to secure second place in Pool A by beating Clermont 34-31. The hosts led by 22 points with only 10 minutes remaining in Belfast but the French side scored three quickfire tries to set up a tense finish.
Ulster scored five tries, including a pair from Rob Herring and a first for the Springbok Duane Vermeulen, in another impressive attacking display. They will face the side that finishes seventh in Pool B in the last 16.
In the other Pool A match of the evening La Rochelle overwhelmed Glasgow with a powerful second-half display. Last season’s finalists won 38-30.
Meanwhile, Northampton’s Champions Cup tie at Racing 92 on Sunday has been cancelled because of several positive Covid-19 tests in the Saints camp. Tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby said Racing 92 had been awarded the match 28-0 with five match points. The cancellation ends the chances of Northampton, still without a victory, of making the last 16.
In the Challenge Cup, Worcester claimed their first win by beating Zebre Parma 36-26 in Italy in their final pool fixture. The Warriors were beaten by Newcastle and Toulon either side of a cancelled tie with Biarritz in Pool A but are still in with a shot of reaching the knockout stages after running in five tries against Zebre. Billy Searle kicked 11 points and scored his side’s second try, while Niall Annett touched down twice and Tom Howe and Ted Hill also crossed.
Leinster appeared to have taken the lead when O’Brien dotted down after Sexton’s grubber kick. But after a lengthy TMO review, Jordan Larmour was correctly adjudged to have pulled back Bath’s Max Clark.
A deafening mixture of laughter and disbelief from the home support, watching replays on the big screen, seemed to prompt a rethink from the Italian referee, Andrea Piardi.
It remained scoreless after 15 minutes and things were starting to warm up when Bath’s Sam Underhill took a bang to the head and was taken off. The hosts had also lost their No 8, Josh Bayliss, to injury a minute before, prompting an early restructure in the back row.
With Underhill out of action it did not take long for Leinster to cross the tryline. They span the ball left and a clinical pass by Hugo Keenan allowed O’Brien to touch down. Josh van der Flier’s athletic sprint, running a superb line on to a Robbie Henshaw pass, brought the second.
Another stunning piece of timing sent Larmour racing over and it was 19-0 in double-quick time. But a fine steal and galloping run by Charlie Ewels, followed by a composed offload to Clark, brought a seven-pointer for Bath.
No panic from Leinster. Henshaw was soon speeding into space from the right and another laser-guided grubber by Sexton popped up perfectly for O’Brien. Bonus point sealed.
Ciaran Frawley bashed over before the break for the fifth try and a score of 33-7.
Bath’s Gabriel Hamer-Webb was sent to the sin-bin five minutes after half-time for a deliberate knock-on and Andrew Porter was soon pushed over.
Sexton’s perceptive cross-kick, switching the point of attack, allowed O’Brien the space to score his hat-trick. Another fluent wave of passing prompted by Sexton’s chip kick into space saw Keenan crash over.
Max Deegan was then shown a yellow card, for an off-the-ball hit on the Bath scrum-half, Ben Spencer, on a rare foray into the Leinster 22, but at 14-a-side, the hosts could not trouble the scorers.
Dan Sheehan romped over the line with 10 minutes left, latching on to Jamison Gibson-Park’s pass, and O’Brien galloped on to a kick from deep to add his fourth, and Leinster’s 10th try, on another sobering afternoon for Bath.
“Sometimes, rock bottom is a great foundation,” Hatley said. “We’re not happy with it, we’re not proud of it, we’re disappointed with where we are.
“We’ve got to make sure we put things in place at this great club that we never find ourselves in this position again.”
