Power of Leinster's bench press sends out warning to Europe's elite
Jordie Barrett of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side's third try. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
LEINSTER sent their own ‘red warning’ to Europe’s elite as they kicked off their Champions Cup campaign with a resounding 35-12 victory against Bristol at Ashton Gate.
Leo Cullen’s men produced a storm-force second half showing - inspired by Sam Prendergast and debutant Jordie Barrett - to sink the resistance of a Bears outfit who, for 50 minutes at least, gave as good as they got in this full-blooded European encounter.
When push came to shove, however, it was the impact of Leinster’s bench - packed with a plethora of international superstars - that proved the telling difference for the four-times champions.
Cullen, naturally, saluted all of his troops in the heat of battle come the final whistle. However, he could not ignore the influence of the All Blacks star who, based on this first performance, will no doubt be quite the star attraction between now and the end of the season.
“It was great for Jordie to get 40 minutes,” said Cullen. “He’s a quality person, a quality player, so it’s great to see him out there. We weren’t too sure when we would get him up and running, so we thought it was a sensible thing to have him on the bench. Hopefully, he’ll kick on from here.”
Already a force across the European game, the arrival of the Antipodean ace will only enhance the hand of the Irish province, who have made no secret of the fact that they want to reclaim the Champions Cup prize having lost the last three finals to French opposition.
“The second-half was a lot better than the first-half,” added Cullen. “We got on the wrong end of a lot of calls. The yellow cards led to a lot of pressure on us. When it was 14 on 14, we scored three tries and played some really good stuff in that period of the game.”
Indeed, it was the six-minute scoring spree during the early stages of the second half that saw the visitors eventually claw themselves clear of the Bears threat.
Fly-half Prendercast struck twice in that period, sandwiching a score from Barrett, to pull the visitors clear at 28-7 after the two sides had turned round at the break level after Max Lahiff’s score for Bristol had been chalked off with a counter from Jordan Larmour.
A fifth score from the impressive Josh van der Flier, who picked up the game's man-of-the-match award, put Leinster home and hosed, before the Bears had the final say in terms of the scoring with a late consolation from winger Gabriel Ibitoye.
For Cullen, it was the ideal start to Leinster's latest European assault, which continues this Saturday with the visit of Clermont-Auvergne to the Aviva Stadium.
"We're pleased to get the win," added Cullen. "The challenge of Bristol is very unique because of the way that they play, but it's now a case of turning the page as next week will be a completely different challenge against Clermont. They are a completely different type of team, one with a different philosophy of how to play the game. They'll be very physical, very confrontational and they will kick the ball a lot, whereas Bristol will run the ball from pretty much everywhere.
"You know what is coming from a Christophe Urios team, so it will be a very short review in what is a short week. It's not about making sure the guys recover well, create a new plan and we get ourselves ready for a different type of opposition. Hopefully, we can build from here."
Cullen believes that Barrett's arrival can help add to the occasion, not just in terms of his skill-set, but also the spectacle for supporters of the province.
"We're back in the Aviva and one of the things about bringing in a player like Jordie, we've talked about the experience he has, but for our fans' it's also pretty special. Now we're in the Aviva for the next couple of weeks, hopefully we will have people who will want to turn out to watch Jordie play in the flesh, along with all the others within the squad."
Whilst Cullen could celebrate, Bristol counterpart Pat Lam was left to reflect on defeat, which was not helped with the early loss of fly-half AJ MacGinty to a rib injury following a thunderous midfield hit from Garry Ringrose.
"Losing AJ had a big effect on what we could do and how we could play our game," said Lam. "We missed a few chances in that first half, but we felt right in the contest at half time. Then, second half, a few reinforcements came on for them and that made a real difference.
"Leinster are a great side, I've known that for a long time, but their whole system and the reason why so many players play for Ireland is down to their systems and structures. It's a conveyor belt of talent - which I keep an eye on - and they produce players for Ireland.
"Add to that someone like Jordie Barrett, who I thought was going to be here a couple of years ago, only for it to be blocked by the NZRU.
"It's good to see him over here playing for Leinster and he will definitely help them with the depth of players they have."
R Lane (B Elizalde, 60); J Bates, K Ravouvou (L Chawatama, 47-57), B Janse van Rensburg, G Ibitoye; AJ MacGinty (J Jenkins, 5), H Randall (K Marmion, 63); E Genge (J Woolmore, 47), H Thacker (G Oghre, 54), M Lahiff (L Chawatama, 57-78); J Dun (S Luatua, 47), J Owen; S Grondona (B Grondona, 76), F Harding (capt), V Mata (H Thacker, 80).
Lahiff, Ibitoye; Janse van Rensburg.
Lahiff
C Frawley (J Barrett, 40); J Larmour (G McCarthy, 38-39, R Byrne, 64), G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J O’Brien; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park (L McGrath, 71); J Boyle (A Porter, 45), R Kelleher (G McCarthy, 63), R Slimani (T Clarkson, 45); J McCarthy (RG Snyman, 45), J Ryan; M Deegan (C Doris, 45), J van der Flier, J Conan (capt, J Boyle 47-57).
Larmour, Prendergast (2), Barrett, van der Flier; Prendergast (5).
Kelleher, Deegan, Porter.
P Brousset (Fra)
15,680
