Big guns fire for Leinster
LEINSTER brought most of their big guns back for this one and head coach Leo Cullen was pleased with the way his Irish stars slotted back in after their Six Nations victory as they now prepare for Saturday's Champions Cup showdown with Leicester at the Aviva.
They prepared for that clash by destroying a Bulls side who turned them over at the RDS in the URC semi-finals two years ago, but this time Jake White's men were thrashed 35-0 in the second half at the Dublin venue.
“The big thing was these weeks can be quite tricky when you're bringing a group back together off the break, and everyone's doing slightly different things. We were pleased with the attitude and how everyone pitched in,” said Cullen.
His experienced scrumhalf Luke McGrath was lucky to escape with just
a yellow card for a high tackle on Kurt-Lee Arendse as the Springbok winger went over in the right corner to give the Bulls a 14-12 lead.
Their scrum had given them an early platform for a couple of penalties from Johan Goosen before Leinster hit back with Jamie Osborne sending Josh van der Flier through to score, be fore hooker Ronan Kelleher scored a trademark try from close range.
McGrath was unable to return from his spell in the bin but by the time Jamison Gibson-Park replaced him, Leinster had taken a lead they never looked like surrendering when James Lowe finished a 19-phase move.
The tries flowed from there as Leinster cantered home as front row replacements Michael Milne and Dan Sheehan scored to lead 33-14 early in the final quarter.
Leinster did not relent and man of the match Jack Conan showed awesome pace to score before replacement centre Liam Turner exchanged passes with winger Rob Russell to complete the seven tries to one rout.
“I look at their bench and it reminded me of that Springboks bench that's packed with internationals, and not just internationals, proper internationals,” noted Bulls coach White. “We still have a lot to do.”
