Leinster juggernaut marches on against Cheetahs

PRO14 Rugby champions Leinster kept intact their unbeaten run in all competitions this season with an impressive wet weather display that buried the Toyota Cheetahs 36-12 at the RDS Arena in Dublin on Saturday.

Had you watched just the period from around the 50th minute you might have been forgiven for thinking it was the Cheetahs who had the local knowledge and who were best playing the conditions as their scrum, once the front-row changes had been made, dominated their opponents. In the last 25 minutes they scored 12 points without reply.

But what would need to be added that it was very different before that, with the Cheetahs taking too long to settle against a Leinster side that did what has to be done in the sort of inclement weather encountered in this game - they kept the ball under a forward blanket and when they did release it the halfbacks, particularly scrumhalf Luke McGrath, kept their side advancing by finding space behind the Cheetahs pack with kicks.

The Leinster win was built around the decision making and generalship of McGrath as well as the many metres eaten up by the home pack with the driving maul. The statistics reflected that the Cheetahs hardly got their hands on the ball in the first half, make that the first 54 minutes, with Leinster showing both their knowledge of what is required in the conditions as well as the strength to their game that has seen them go so long unbeaten.

Although they were always the team in the ascendancy when it came to applying pressure, it did take Leinster 20 minutes to get their first points on the board through a try to flanker Will Connors. It says something for the type of game it was that all of the tries across the 80 minutes were scored by forwards, with Leinster gaining momentum during the period that Cheetahs front-ranker Charles Marais was off the field after being yellow carded in the 28th minute.

Leinster flyhalf Ciaran Frawley kicked the penalty that coincided with Marais’ banishment and five minutes later prop Michael Bent dotted down as the Leinster forwards drove over the line to stretch the gap to 17 points. On the stroke of halftime came a driving maul try that was dotted down by impressive and omnipresent hooker Ronan Kelleher to make it 22-0 at the break.

The bonus point try came not long into the second half, with blindside flanker Rhys Ruddock going over between the posts after McGrath had set up their momentum with a good run up the middle before man of the match Connors dotted down his second try to stretch the score to an imposing 36-0 in the 55th minute.

That was the cue though for the Cheetahs to overturn much of the dominance enjoyed by Leinster up front and a long period where they were camped in the Leinster 22 and their scrum was driving the Leinster eight off the ball resulted in a yellow card for reserve hooker Sean Cronin before the Cheetahs finally made the pressure count when their reserve prop Boan Venter drove over.

Venter was a fitting try scorer as the Cheetahs scrum really did dominate once the reserve front-row came on. As fittingly it was another Cheetahs tight forward, reserve lock Aidon Davis, who crossed for the second Cheetahs try on the final whistle as the Bloemfontein team, specifically their pack, finished with the sort of forceful flourish that would have precipitated thoughts of what might have been had they started the game with the same intent that they finished it.

SCORES

Leinster 36 - Tries: Will Connors 2, Ronan Kelleher, Michael Brent and Rhys Ruddock; Conversions: Ciaran Frawley 4; Penalty: Ciaran Frawley.

Toyota Cheetahs 12 - Tries: Boan Venter and Aidon Davis; Conversion: Ruan Pienaar.