Leinster bring Benetton back down to earth while Stormers condemn Sharks to ninth URC defeat

RDS Arena, Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland. 17th Feb, 2024. United Rugby Championship Rugby, Leinster versus Benetton Rugby; Luke McGrath of Leinster celebrates scoring a try 12 – 7 Credit: Action Plus Sports/Alamy Live News

Leinster eased to a seven-try 47-18 victory over high-flying Benetton in Dublin as they extended their lead at the United Rugby Championship (URC) summit on Saturday.

Scott Penny (2), Luke McGrath, Liam Turner, Jason Jenkins, Ben Murphy and Brian Deeny crossed for the hosts, with Ross Byrne and Sam Prendergast kicking extras.

Ignacio Mendy scored Benetton‘s only try of the fixture while their other points came via Jacob Umaga as the visitors suffer just their second defeat of the URC campaign.

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Benetton started and finished the first half impressively, with Mendy touching down in the first minute and Umaga tagging a monster penalty onto the winger’s late second try.

That cut Leinster‘s lead to 21-18 at the break, but Jenkins bagged their bonus point soon after the restart to add to earlier scores from Penny, McGrath and Turner.

Making it a seven-try triumph in the end, Academy scrum-half Murphy notched his first senior score, and fellow replacement Deeny and captain Penny added the late gloss.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell will have noted Byrne’s encouraging return from injury. He landed his first four conversion attempts and was solid throughout his 69 minutes on the pitch.

The Italians swiftly showed exactly why they are sitting second in the standings. They worked the ball wide for Mendy to score in the right corner, with Umaga also converting.

Leinster applied pressure through their forwards in response, and Penny, supported by Ross Molony, plunged over beside the posts. Byrne’s conversion made it seven-all.

The hosts added a quick-fire second converted try in the 13th minute, with scrum-half McGrath the scorer after a slick offload from Jamie Osborne.

Umaga pulled back three points with a 25th-minute penalty, but a smartly-worked try off the training ground released centre Turner to crash over in determined fashion.

Nonetheless, an injection of pace and quick hands put Mendy over to close the gap again, and Umaga’s booming 59-metre penalty made it a three-point game at the turnaround.

Leinster still needed to shake off their rustiness, and lock Jenkins got them back on track with a 42nd-minute try. Tommy O’Brien’s high fielding was a highlight during the build-up.

The Treviso-based side were making more errors now, and the 22-year-old Murphy picked from a 64th-minute scrum and neatly nipped over past two defenders.

Prendergast replaced Byrne at fly-half and his soft hands were all over Leinster’s penultimate try. He provided the assist and conversion for Deeny’s close-range effort, and then Penny drove in low to complete his brace.

Malakai Fekitoa was fortunate to avoid yellow late on for a high hit, but while Umaga was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, Leinster misfired with a loose Osborne pass in their last attack.

Stormers prevail away at Sharks

In Durban, the struggling Sharks went down to a ninth United Rugby Championship loss of the season as they were beaten 25-21 by fellow South African side the Stormers.

More to follow…