Leinster grind out narrow win against Harlequins

Leinster 14 Harlequins 13

It was a grim, a dour arm wrestle, for large tranches devoid of imagination, wit, subtlety, and anything that might resemble the rugby virtues required to have a meaningful impact on the European Champions Cup.

The victory will act as a temporary salve but it cannot camouflage the continued shortcomings in Leinster’s performances. In general this was a game low on quality and in truth one that dissolved into a morass of mistakes of every persuasion.

In some respects Harlequins will wonder how they lost. They had a Mike Brown try docked by the television match official Eric Gonthier, and young South African outhalf Tim Swiel for the second week missed a relatively straight forward place-kick that would have bagged the match points and in all truth the overall pool honours.

Leinster will point to the victory and some fine individual displays, notably Dominic Ryan, Jamie Heaslip and Ian Madigan's place-kicking. Luke Fitzgerald was the only blue-clad player who looked capable of beating defenders with the exception of Zane Kirchner, who did a lot with a little. Rhys Ruddock worked hard but the home side now rely exclusively on individuals because the unit skills break down too easily.

The scrum was a disaster for the second week provided rich seam of ‘Quins penalties. The lineout was not quite as malfunctioning but enough to cost the home side three promising opportunities.

Leinster’s performance in those opening 40 minutes was a microcosm of their season, maddeningly inconsistent, where passages of enterprise were pockmarked by carelessness, errant handling and the odd poor decision in possession.

Precision and patience are fundamental to maintaining pressure but Leinster were guilty of releasing the safety valve by their own hand, literally. On several occasions, having gone through a number of phases and breached the initial line of defenders, a poorly thrown pass brought the passage of play to a frustrating conclusion.

From the opening whistle when Devin Toner rose and tapped back the ball into Jamie Heaslip's breadbasket, the home side managed to scupper their own ambition with an error, on this occasion an unsympathetic pass from Rob Kearney. It was to set the tone for what followed in the first half.

Harlequins started the game largely as they would have wanted with the exception of outhalf Tim Swiel’s early long range penalty miss, dominating possession and territory, the kicking duel and also squeezing a free-kick out of the first scrum.

Only a superb piece of defending by Leinster outhalf Jimmy Gopperth prevented Harlequins Danny Care from either breaking free or putting a team-mate away after the England international scampered unmolested down the short-side from a collapsing scrum in which Rhys Ruddock ended up being pinned to the floor.

It was an early warning that in fairness Leinster heeded as they began to get some rhythm to their patterns but they could not convert their superiority initially into points. Toner threw a poor pass when the home side had a numerical advantage just inside the Harlequins 22. Isaac Boss was turned over at a ruck, again in the 'Quins 22, after a fine run by Zane Kirchner while Ian Madigan hit a post with a 30 metre penalty that he would normally expect to convert.

Leinster might have taken the lead on 22 minutes when Gopperth fired a penalty into the corner, the lineout was secured and as the maul disintegrated two metres from the Harlequin's line. Dominic Ryan, the player in possession, made a bolt for the whitewash. He was denied by millimetres but in following up Boss was penalised by referee Romain Poite.

Madigan kicked a penalty, and then the home side spurned another gilt edged opportunity when Sean Cronin overthrew to Kane Douglas at a lineout eight metres from the visitors' line.

‘Quins respite would last less than a minute as having knocked the ball on from the throw, the scrum wheeled to the blindside, Heaslip broke, Aseli Tikoirotuma bit in on the tackle and the Irish number eight was able to put Boss over in the corner. Madigan couldn’t convert from the touchline but did add a penalty after he was hit late by Harlequins’ captain Joe Marler.

The hapless Swiel had missed a dolly of a penalty in between and the English club probably didn’t know whether to be grateful or miffed at half-time in a staccato contest dominated by mistakes. Whatever Harlequins mindset it was the visitors that returned after the interval with a renewed sense of vigour and could have made immediate inroads on the scoreboard.

Marler’s thundering break into the the Leinster 22 pre-empted quick ruck ball and fullback Mike Brown latched onto Care’s beautifully weighted chip against the grain but the television match official Eric Gonthier adjudged he lost the ball while trying to dot down; huge credit must go to Kearney’s robust smother tackle.

It was a massive let off for the home side but they couldn’t escape seconds later when they were first turned over on their own put-in - excellent work by Care - and then penalised at the next scrum. Swiel kicked the penalty and the South African displayed great character to kick a difficult conversion on 57 minutes, giving the scoring pass to Brown for good measure.

The initial issue came from another scrum penalty conceded by Leinster and the second one arose from Matt Hopper’s definitive line break and pop up offload to the supporting Care. At 11-10 the English side had momentum and it was no more than they deserved in playing rugby that was more cohesive and with a sharper edge on the gain-line.

Leinster were clinging on at this point and not every convincingly, the scrum a liability while any confidence had visibly eroded to the point where the first, second and third option was the kick and just ship the ball laterally, a post code away from the gain-line. The home side were unravelling; another scrum, another penalty until on 63 minutes referee Poite called Heaslip over and said, ‘no more.’

Matt O'Connor had introduced Eoin Reddan, Mike McCarthy and Jack Conan at this point but the momentum remained firmly with Harlequins. Energised by their dominance, the ran harder from deep, using footwork as well as ballast and everything they did was right on the gain-line, thereby magnifying and ultimately punishing the slightest defensive error from the home side.

Leinster’s implosion continued apace, Toner penalised for an early tackle, brought to Poite’s attention by the touch judge and confirmed by the television match official. Swiel tapped it over and Harlequins had the lead, 13-11 on 68 minutes. Lady luck gave Gopperth a massive raspberry on 69 minutes when his seemingly beautifully directed kick bounced at right angles and over the dead ball line.

It was the home side’s turn to show some character, Reddan’s gorgeous show-and-go allowing him to escape his own 22 and offload to the supporting Ryan. When ‘Quins were penalised at the ruck, Reddan tapped and went and from the next ruck, Cronin, running in the wide channels took play close to the Harlequins 22, where Care eventually transgressed.

Madigan posted the penalty from 25 metres and Leinster were back in front, 14-13. With three minutes of the match remaining, a schemozzle broke out after Poite whistled for a Leinster scrum. McCarthy was hit in the face with the ball by Care, whose leg was being held by the Irishman; Madigan jumped in and grabbed the scrumhalf, and the Englishman deserved a red card for what he did next on the ground with his fists and forearm. He must expect to be called to account for his actions.

Harlequins’ second row Charlie Matthews might also have a case to answer if the citing commissioner considers his raking a hand across Ryan’s face more than clumsy. Bizarrely referee Poite gave him a yellow card; red or nothing surely. Leinster lost the lineout, got the ball back but laboured backwards and forwards across the Harlequins 22, devoid of nuance or subtlety.

The home side lost a final lineout, faced a final scrum and somehow managed a final turnover to escape with the victory. In terms of the points in the pool they’re level on points with Harlequins (13) but in performance terms light years away. Winning ugly has its virtues but it was hard to look past the clouds to pick out any silver linings other than the result.

Scoring sequence

25 mins: Madigan penalty, 3-0; 30: Boss try, 8-0; 37: Madigan penalty, 11-0. Half-time: 11-0; 45: Swiel penalty, 11-3; 57: Brown try, Swiel conversion, 11-10; 66: Swiel penalty, 11-13; 71: Madigan penalty, 14-13.

Leinster: R Kearney; Z Kirchner, L Fitzgerald, I Madigan, D Fanning; J Gopperth, I Boss; J McGrath, S Cronin, M Ross; D Toner, K Douglas; R Ruddock, D Ryan, J Heaslip (capt). Replacements: E Reddan for Boss 49 mins; M McCarthy for Douglas 57 mins; J Conan for Ruddock 63 mins; M Bent for McGrath 76 mins.

Harlequins: M Brown; M Yarde, M Hopper, G Lowe, A Tikoirotuma; T Swiel, D Care; J Marler (capt), D Ward, W Collier; C Matthews, G Robson; L Wallace, J Clifford, N Easter. Replacements: J Trayfoot for Wallace 71 mins; R Chisholm for Brown 74 min; Sam Twomey 82 mins.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)