Leinster 47; Bath 21
This was an occasion where the final score told less than half the real story of this classic encounter between high-flying Leinster and equally high-flying Bath, the leaders of the England top-flight competition.
In the end, the bonus-point win leaves Leo Cullen's side well on course for a top-two seeding and home knockout games up to the final.
The Aviva Stadium crowd was shocked to see the visitors dismantle the home favorites by going 14-0 up in the opening seven minutes and then after Leinster wrestled control, the visitors delivered a sucker punch on the cusp of the interval to take back the lead by 21-19.
It set up a fascinating second half which was exactly that until the power of the home scrum told as the unfortunate Beno Obano saw his second yellow of the day - resulting in a red just past the hour mark.
While it is totally true to say that the arrival of RG Snyman and Caelan Doris six minutes into the second half had given Leinster a better platform in set pieces and especially going forward in the loose, make no mistake about it, Bath were still, to excuse a pun of sorts on their name, in the melting pot until that red card was shown as they only trailed by 26-21 at that stage.
The final 20 minutes saw Leinster turn the screw at an accelerated rate as the big South African Snyman scored two of the half’s four home tries to make it a duck-shoot at the end.
Up to then it had been a clash of philosophy with the new half Springbok formula in Leinster cutting down on try thrills (yet they ended up with seven) and improving their game plan structure while Johann van Graan, late of Munster, sees his new way of attacking blueprints ring up points on the board and the Premiership table.
His way of play saw them hit the ground running with two excellent converted tries which made Leinster look like 3rd A players in their execution but one thing the new Leinster have is patience in abundance.
They also have attacking greats in abundance, so much that the only way they could accommodate Garry Ringrose in the side was to play him on the wing.
That proved a blessing in disguise, for not only did he play well and score a fine second half try, but his centre slot was occupied by Robbie Henshaw, whose powerful running brought Leinster right back in the game with two tries to cut the original 14-0 lead to 14-12.
Skipper Jack Conan added another to make it 19-14 but a measure of the Bath self-belief saw them sting the hosts again with a second Tom de Glanville converted try just before the break to edge them in front as outhalf Finn Russell kicked all three conversions in the opening moiety.
The crowd of over 40,000 didn’t know what to expect, other than a great arm-wrestle for power. Probably few teams at any level can afford the luxury of leaving Snyman and Doris on the reserve bench until 34 minutes left but Head Coach Leo Cullen held them until then — and what a pair of trump cards they were.
Snyman was like a giant both figuratively and literally as he plucked balls with one hand and made it look like he was playing in the land of pygmies. His initial try looked like a contortionist’s trick as he stretched for the line while his reprise was no less impressive.
Once they saw the white feather in Bath’s make-up which was scrum-time, they concentrated on exposing it to the extent that French referee Luc Ramos had no option but to send Obeno off for continuous indiscretions.
After that happened, the sluice gates opened and further scores from Garry Ringrose and Gibson-Park to add to Snyman’s brace.
When all is said and written on this game, Cullen and Co will rightly point to the South African and Ireland skipper’s emergence as key reasons why the game was won differently than say a previous year’s Leinster win.
However they will also point to the addition of two other outsiders - All Black Jordie Barrett and prop Rabah Slimani, who both had made huge impressions on the gameBarrett was the perfect foil for Henshaw but did so much covering as well while the 34 year old French man destroyed his opponents and his contribution reduced Bath to rubble and 14 men.
With La Rochelle's shock 25-32 loss at Benetton, it means Leinster are now seven points clear of Ronan O'Gara's club after four games.
The weekend other results saw Leinster finish as the second top team overall in the competition. They will have a home tie, which looks like being played at Croke Park as the Aviva Stadium is unavailable, against Harlequins.
Should they win this match, they will take on the winner of Glasgow or Leicester.
Said Head Coach Leo Cullen when reflecting on the game: “Seven minutes in, 14-nil down, not exactly the way we planned it but the score was pretty good after that, 47-7, if you take out the first seven or eight minutes. There was lots of good stuff in the game, the start was not part of it. Bath showed really good attacking intent, they came to play.
"We were chasing our tails a little bit but we showed good composure on the flip side of that to get back into the game. We’d plenty of pressure, maybe just forcing things a little, which led to a few turnovers at different stages.”
His opposing manger, Bath boss Johann van Graan, stated: “I thought we started this game incredibly well. We planned for a fast start because specifically against Leinster if you fall behind it's very difficult to come back, specifically the way they defend.
“Going in 21-19 I thought we handled the first few minutes well until we got 14 on 15. Then RG came onto the pitch. You all know how highly I rate him as a player. Somebody that I signed at Munster and he's now at Leinster and I thought he was phenomenal. Leinster are a very good side. You can see why they've got 23 out of the 36 guys in the Irish national team.
“I'm disappointed because we came here to win but extremely proud. Proud of the fact that we've got absolutely no regret in the change room.”
Afterwards stand-in captain Conan, referred to the balance of the game by declaring “Credit to Bath, they came quickly out of the gate. I think we were slow to start, a little bit. We didn’t panic, we were nice and calm. We said we’ll stick to the process and we’ll get there.
“I’m pretty proud of the lads. I thought big RG and the second-half skipper, Caelan, were pretty good off the bench, lads made a huge impact, same with Ross [Byrne] and Lukey [McGrath], all the lads made a real impact and gave us the lift we needed.
“We finished nice and strong, but we were probably a bit loose in the first half, chasing things. We need to be a bit more calm, bring them through the phases. They are a quality team, Bath, top of the Premiership for a reason and very difficult to break down.
Leinster: H Keenan; G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Barrett, J Osborne; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, R Slimani; J McCarthy, J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, J Conan (capt) Replacements: G McCarthy (for Kelleher 62), C Healy (for Porter 74), T Clarkson (for Slimani 62), RG Snyman (for Ryan 45), C Doris (for Deegan 45), L McGrath (for Gibson-Park 35-40 and 72), R Byrne (Prendergast 62), J O'Brien (73).
Northampton 34; Munster 32
Munster are nearly but not quite the Munster of old. On Saturday at Franklin’s Garden, they allowed a big lead to slip and then just came up short when they rallied to cut a nine-point Northampton lead to two.
They had their chances and will rue the sin-binning of Gavin Coombes and the concession of a converted try just on half-time as the double whammy which they didn’t quite recover from.
Credit to Diarmuid Kilgallen for forcing his way over for late try and credit Jack Crowley for a brilliant touchline conversion to cut the deficit to two. Munster went looking for a drop goal or penalty to win the game and have home advantage in the next stages but it wasn’t to be as the home side held out.
It was a point dwelt on by interim head coach Ian Costello who bemoaned that and the missed chances which now sees his side play away in the knockout phase of the Champions Cup.
Said Costello: "It’s really disappointing. We had an opportunity to get a round of 16 game at Thomond Park, which we haven’t had for a while. That’s what was at stake and that’s what is so disappointing about this.
The reality of the permutations after the weekend sees Munster go head-to-head with former out-half Ronan O'Gara when they face La Rochelle in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup.
Finishing third in their pool means they must make the tough trip to south west France and hope they can beat the 2022 and ‘23 champions and gain a quarter-final spot in the competition.
Ulster won 52-24 at home to Exeter Chiefs, but needed Bordeaux to win by more than 28 points at Stade Chaban Delmas, while denying the Sharks any losing bonus.
At half-time it looked a tall order as the hosts led by just seven points despite a Damian Penaud’s hat-trick, but the floodgates opened after the interval as Bordeaux reeled off 47 unanswered points to win 66-12.
Munster and Ulster could now meet in a last-eight tie, though that would mean major upsets on French soil.
Round of 16, April 4-6
Bordeaux-Begles v Ulster; Leinster v Harlequins; Northampton v Clermont Auvergne; Toulon v Saracens; Toulouse v Sale; Castres v Benetton; Glasgow v Leicester; La Rochelle v Munster.
