The Leinster staff and administration might not agree, however this sport and outcome was manna from heaven for the advertising workers tasked with shifting tickets for the Aviva Stadium on Good Friday.
blowout might need suited Leo Cullen, however it will have been dangerous for enterprise.
That it stays a going concern is essentially all the way down to Connacht’s cussed refusal to wilt in entrance of a vociferous dwelling crowd of 8,129 on the Sportsground and a yellow card for Eire scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park simply as his staff seemed like pulling away.
That it wasn’t pink will likely be a bone of rivalry for the western province who performed for 77 minutes with 14 males when the groups met two weeks’ in the past within the URC.
Nonetheless, their mission was to maintain the tie alive and so they managed that by way of some wonderful attacking play, a continuous work ethic and a few courageous goalline defence.
Leinster gained the sport and at instances they performed some cracking rugby. They’ll quietly take a five-point half-time lead and so they’ll be assured of finishing the job at Lansdowne Street, realizing that they’ve the larger scope for enchancment within the coming week.
“Connacht put it as much as us for the complete 80 minutes, large week to come back,” man of the match Caelan Doris stated. “A really powerful second half, a number of defence and extra bodily in a manner.
“We had been treating it as two separate video games, we’ll refocus and go along with a brand new plan subsequent week. The scoreboard begins from zero and we’ll go once more.”
They are saying that greater than 25,000 tickets had been already bought earlier than final evening’s conflict, however this rip-roaring first-leg, the closeness of the scores and battle between wingers Mack Hansen and James Lowe alone ought to assure a couple of extra fly out the door within the coming days.
The larger crowd will do nicely to higher the environment the house crowd generated in Galway as they relished a primary Champions Cup knockout tie and their staff responded by making a blistering begin and John Porch put them in entrance at across the identical stage.
Leinster survived the primary wave of assault, however the spectacular Leva Fifita charged James Lowe’s kick down and, after sturdy carries by Finlay Bealham and Conor Oliver, Aki mixed with Jack Carty to place the Aussie wing over.
The out-half missed the kickable conversion, however Connacht stored their depth up on each side of the ball and for a interval Leinster seemed rattled.
It didn’t final. Johnny Sexton obtained his aspect off the mark with a penalty and that settled the guests.
As soon as they relaxed, they started to take pleasure in themselves and from a Connacht perspective there was an ominous ease to the way in which the four-time champions labored their first strive as Hugo Keenan pulled Aki out of place and put Lowe away.
Sexton transformed and the Eire winger was over once more inside 4 minutes, working a elegant one-two with Keenan to scorch over and even when the Sexton conversion drifted vast it was of little solace to the house devoted.
Hansen gave them cause to seek out their voices once more with a sensational chip and chase, however Tiernan O’Halloran was hunted into contact by Josh van der Flier after fielding the winger’s offload.
Carty and Sexton exchanged penalties, earlier than Keenan kicked the ball lifeless to provide Connacht one final probability to attain and, when Cian Healy coughed up a breakdown penalty, the house captain kicked his penalty to make it 18-11 on the interval.
Within the dressing-room, Leinster would have been the extra comfy aspect however Connacht tore into their activity once more after half-time with Fifita, Cian Prendergast and Aki to the fore and when Leinster went too exhausting a ruck Carty opted to scale back the hole to 4 when he might need turned the screw.
It appeared like a missed alternative and that sense was exacerbated when Jimmy O’Brien charged Farrell’s kick down and compelled a 5m scrum. After a few extra scrum penalties and a disallowed Lowe rating, Keenan prolonged his aspect’s lead.
Sexton was once more vast with the conversion, however Gibson-Park went excessive on Kieran Marmion and was fortunate to flee with only a yellow. Carty went for all of it with a line-kick minutes later and this time they had been rewarded as, after a second penalty, Finlay Fifita pressured his manner over and the captain transformed to make it 23-21.
With out a No 9, Leinster had been pressured to play tight. They escaped a wave of Connacht strain, earlier than the Westerners repelled a James Tracy go on the line and Gibson-Park returned with the tie within the steadiness.
Ross Byrne turned down an opportunity to increase his aspect’s lead and obtained his angles improper to kick the ball lifeless, earlier than a superb Aki sort out pressured a uncommon dealing with error out of Doris.
It was all arrange for a giant Connacht end, however Leinster weren’t within the temper for love. Byrne kicked his aspect right into a five-point lead and, when Sammy Arnold thundered into Josh van der Flier to complete the sport, a silence descended on the Galway venue as Dickson signalled half-time within the two-legged tie.
It doesn’t get any simpler for Connacht, however they’re nonetheless alive.
CONNACHT – T O’Halloran (C Fitzgerald h-t); J Porch, T Farrell (S Arnold 78), B Aki, M Hansen; J Carty, Ok Marmion (C Blade 62); M Burke (T Tuimauga 57), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin 70), F Bealham (J Aungier 70); G Thornbury (O Dowling 53), L Fifita; C Prendergast, C Oliver, J Butler (A Papali’I 62).
LEINSTER – H Keenan; J O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw (C Frawley 74), J Lowe; J Sexton (capt) (R Byrne 63, L McGrath (J Gibson-Park 51); C Healy (E Byrne 51), D Sheehan (J Tracy 62), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa 62); R Molony, J Murphy (D Toner 70); C Doris (M Deegan 78), J van der Flier, J Conan.
Ref – Ok Dickson (England).