It was like watching a movie you’d seen before being played back to you as Leinster strengthened their grip on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log race with a comfortable 36-12 win over the DHL Stormers at AVIVA Stadium in Dublin on Saturday night.
After the Stormers lineout went walkabout against Racing 92 in their Investec Champions Cup clash in Paris last week and effectively cost them the game, it was explained away by saying that it was just an aberration and was caused by Racing just being particularly good at contesting. But in this game the lineout malfunction was even worse than seven days ago and it was the main reason that the Cape side were unable to really fire any shots in anger.
Leinster, with their overseas international players Jordie Barrett of New Zealand and RG Snyman of South Africa in the vanguard, and Ireland internationals who were not yet at the Ireland training camp like Dan Sheehan, Ross Byrne and James Lowe excelling, scored five tries to two from the Stormers.
CAPE SIDE CONSPIRED AGAINST THEMSELVES AGAIN
Barrett featured in both of Leinster’s first half tries as a creator and then he crossed himself for the first try of the second half. But while Leinster were Leinster, which means they were clinical and efficient, it was also another of those games where the Stormers conspired against themselves with their error rate. And those errors extended beyond just the lineouts. When they did win lineouts on a few occasions, they often either lost possession while setting up the maul or one or two passes later.
Make no mistake, it was a night where the dice was loaded against the Stormers, not the least when it was announced that the Scottish referee appointed to take charge of the game couldn’t make it because of the massive storm conditions sweeping across the UK. Eoghan Cross, an Irishman who didn’t do the Vodacom Bulls any favours with some poor calls earlier in the season, was asked to take over and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that almost all the 50/50 calls early on went against the visitors.
The Stormers had racked up a whopping 12 penalties in the game by the 50th minute and it continued from there. Some of those penalties were warranted but several were highly dubious, and of course that did not help the visiting team. It was as though Leinster could do no wrong.
LIBBOK INJURY WAS COSTLY
In looking for mitigation for the big defeat you could also easily look at Manie Libbok leaving the field a few minutes before halftime after sustaining a knock to the knee in contesting a kick. The Stormers, with a six/two spolit between forwards and backs on the bench, didn’t have a flyhalf on the bench.
Losing their playmaker was a massive blow, and the Stormers were well in the game at that point. They were trailing 10-7 and were well in the contest, even though they had the lineout problem to contend with, but once Libbok was off they didn’t just lose their playmaker, with centre Jonathan Roche lining up at pivot for defensive sets and Warrick Gelant operating there on attack, they also lost their recognised goalkicker.
That can’t be used as an excuse, as it was the coach’s decision to go in without Jurie Matthee, who’d have been a good substitute in the position. And to be fair, when they go for a six/two split, every coach knows there is inherent risk. Sometimes it can backfire, sand this was one of those times it did.
No sooner had Libbok left the field than there was a dubious scrum penalty against the Stormers that allowed Leinster to set up a set-play attack that exploited a Stormers defensive error, and in which Barrett was the special player, and send returning Ireland hooker Sheehan over in the left corner.
The Leinster skipper’s try was not the first time in the season that the Stormers have conceded a try just before halftime in an overseas game, and as was the case last week against Racing and before that in the Champions Cup game in London against Harlequins, it changed the game.
Instead of being just 10-7 up at the break in a tight game, Leinster were leading 15-7, and frankly the Stormers were never in it after that.
STRUGGLED AGAIN TO GET INTO GAME AT THE START
Not that they really looked in it in the first 10 minutes or so when they appeared to be struggling to get used to both the wet conditions - although it didn’t rain during the match apparently there was a downpour just before kick-off - and the calls of the Irish referee. They conceded an early penalty, a highly questionable one let it also be said, that Byrne kicked to put his team 3-0 up.
In the 10th minute Barrett managed to muscle his way around Libbok coming out of line and there was the space for wing Andrew Osborne to go over for the first try. Byrne converted to make it 10-0 after as many minutes.
It wasn’t the first time the Stormers have started slowly and then settled. It happened again and came back strongly, with a monster Stormers scrum near the Leinster line creating the momentum that the backs used, with the help of a deft little touch from Roche who took up first receiver and then a long pass from Libbok, to put Ben Loader in at the corner.
Libbok kicked the conversion from the touchline, but that was the last time he got to kick at posts. And when not long into the second half Barrett scored himself from a position that was set up for Leinster by yet another overthrown Stormers lineout, it went to 22-7 and against Leinster you are never going to come back from that.
Sheehan scored the bonus point try not long after that and then a Lowe try was disallowed because of a marginal Leinster knock-on, probably the only time the Stormers came out on the right side of the referee, and then Ruhan Nel, standing on his own tryline, passed the ball to Leinster’s Osborne to dot down. It was that kind of night for the Stormers, and unfortunately not for the first time in overseas games this season either.
The Stormers did get the bit together in the last 10 minutes and were rewarded with a try to Evan Roos but if most of the Stormers supporters had switched channels to the BetwaySA20 to watch Dewald Brewis and George Linde power MI Cape Town to a bonus point win at Newlands they could not have been blamed. There was too much same ol’, same ol’ about this Stormers performance.

SCORES
LEINSTER 36 - Tries: Andrew Osborne 2, Dan Sheehan 2 and Jordie Barrett; Conversions: Ross Byrne 4; Penalty: Ross Byrne.
DHL STORMERS 12 - Tries: Ben Loader and Evan Roos; Conversion: Manie Libbok.