Leinster overcome the elements to thrash hapless Connacht

As the rain and the wind whipped in off the Atlantic and the foreboding Clare Mountains, the thought occurred that historically Leinster used to suffer on capricious nights like this in the wild, wild west. But those nights definitely belong to history now.

Players and coaches have come and gone, but as was the case last January, a rebuilt and expectant Dexcom was packed to the rafters with another, Leinster rode out the home storm.

Their seven tries to one win was not so much a bloodless coup as a slaughter of the innocents, the winning margin their biggest since a 53-8 victory in the interpros back in October 1999. Their last defeat in Galway was that record 47-10 loss in John Muldoon’s last game nine seasons ago.

This was also a 14th win in a row over Connacht.

Vastly superior in execution, and just as much on it in defence as the won gain line hands down – witness 14 line breaks to none – Leinster also won the scraps on the deck and on the ground. On a humiliating night, Connacht’s kick-chase game was awful.

Max Deegan and Brian Deeny were immense and James Culhane had a fine seasonal reappearance after recovering from a hamstring tear, and Fintan Gunne continues to look more and more assured at this level. Joey Carbery oozed class in all he did, the two halves pulling the strings with plenty of variety. Jordan Larmour and Todd Lawlor dazzled.

Leinster may, as usual, have had the bigger contingent in the Irish squad, although arguably Connacht missing eight front lines was a bigger ask than the champions missing 17 given their renowned strength in depth. Certainly their rare status as marginal favourites with the bookies looked ill-placed.

Either way, with the wind blowing in from the Atlantic behind them in the first half, Leinster earned 89 per cent and 72 per cent possession, while looking much the better-oiled machine and were altogether more potent and accurate with the ball.

Connacht spent pretty much the entirety of the first half on the back foot, and Josh Murphy was a standout in defence, one big hit early on against Jordan Larmour setting the tone. But when they had opportunities, they lost three of their first four lineouts, kicked out on the full twice and spilled the slippery pill too often.

So too Leinster in undoing a few early line breaks but their slickness was evident in a clever lineout trick play, Fintan Gunne and Scott Penny running decoy lines as James Culhane swivelled with the ball through the unsuspecting Connacht forwards and offloaded out of two tackles for Gus McCarthy to beat Shayne Bolton’s tackle and score.

Leinster nearly added another when Todd Lawlor volleyed, Thomas Ramos-style, a deft chip by Carbery but Conor Fahey couldn’t gather short of the line under pressure from Daniel Ryan.

Even so, as the rains descended, Leinster went more direct, Fintan Gunne sniping and launching his big runners through multiple phases before finding Jordan Larmour for a good finish.

Apart from their trio of 35-year-old frontrowers winning a couple of scrum penalties, Connacht’s only shot fired in the first half was Murphy winning a jackal penalty after Finlay Bealham had tackled Alex Usanov. Sean Naughton kicked the penalty into the corner and Dave Heffernan hit Sean O’Brien before the backs joined in as Heffernan was mauled over.

Naughton’s conversion into the teeth of the wind and rain was blown of course, whereas Carbery was soon adding a third excellent conversion. Larmour fielded Naughton’s punt, when really it should have been a Blade box kick, and drew two defenders for Lawlor to take an arcing line to beat Bolton on the outside and score.

About the only ray of hope for Connacht was that Leinster mucked up a close-range lineout drive after Joshua Kenny had exploited another poor kick-chase by the home side.

But one of the night’s running themes was soon repeating itself, namely Connacht’s almost complete inability to deal with Leinster’s kicking game, and specifically a chip and a grubber in quick succession by Gunne which Lawlor and Larmour reclaimed.

This led to Carbery knocking over a penalty before Lawlor ran back another poor kick, breaking a tackle for Brian Deeny to link with Culhane. He was caught just short but Gunne went all Gibson-Park with a long bridge pass for Max Deegan to score in the corner. Incredibly, Carbery converted into the elements from the touchline.

Ciaran Mangan picked off Josh Ioane’s pass for an intercept try from halfway before the Leinster pack flexed their pack for Gunne to dummy over from close-range. Carbery’s easiest conversion brought up Leinster’s half-century and his 20.

With that, although the rain had ceased, many in the Clan and either end of the ground headed for warmer places. But this was a sobering night for Connacht.

Scoring sequence: 16 mins: McCarthy try, Carbery con 0-7; 25: Larmour try, Carbery con 0-14; 28: Heffernan try 5-14; 32: Lawlor try, Carbery con 5-21; HT: 5-21; 51: Carbery pen 5-24; 54: Deegan try 5-29; 60: Carbery try and con 5-36; 72: Mangan try, Carbery con 5-43. 77: Gunne try, Carbery con 5-50.

Connacht: Josh Ioane; Shayne Bolton, John Devine, Cathal Forde, Daniel Ryan; Sean Naughton, Caolin Blade; Francois van Wyk, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Josh Murphy, David O’Connor, Sean O’Brien, Will Connors, Paul Boyle (capt). Replacements: Shamus Hurley-Langton for O’Brien (HT), Sam Gilbert for Devine (43 mins), Matthew Victory for Heffernan, Jerry Cahir for van Wyk, Niall Murray for Murphy (all 51), Finn Treacy for Bolton (55), Fiachna Barrett for Bealham (56), Colm Reilly for Blade (61).

Leinster: Todd Lawlor; Joshua Kenny, Connor Fahy, Charlie Tector, Jordan Larmour; Joey Carbery, Fintan Gunne; Alex Usanov, Gus McCarthy, Niall Smyth, Brian Deeny, Alan Spicer, Max Deegan (capt), Scott Penny, James Culhane. Replacements: Conor O’Tighearnaigh for Spicer (56 mins), Cormac Foley for Gunne (59), Stephen Smyth for McCarthy, Peter Dooley for Usanov, Gunne for Fahy, Gabriel for Lawlor, Mangan for Larmour (all 68), Alex Mullan for N Smyth (70), Alex Soroka for Culhane (73).

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU).