Milne grabs brace as Leinster reassert position atop URC with win in ...
It was a great day for the front row union as now few that eight of the tries came from the two front rows as Leinster came from behind in the second half to reassert themselves at the top of the URC table.
Replacement prop Michael Milne scored twice for Leinster, and fellow benchman John McKee got another, while Cardiff’s loosehead prop Rhys Carre charged his way over for two tries at the end of a highly competitive first half.
After racing into a 12-point lead in as many minutes, Leinster found themselves trailing at the interval and forced to dig deep to regain their advantage over title rivals the Bulls and Glasgow Warriors.
In the end, the power of Leo Cullen’s pack and replacements bench allowed them to get their noses back in front within eight minutes of the re-start before powering to another vitally important bonus-point win on the road.
Cardiff’s spirited revival this season has seen them garner bigger crowds and get 12 of their players into Warren Gatland’s Wales Six Nations squad. They have given youth their chance and seemingly flourished.
Two tries flowed in the opening 10 minutes and the Leinster backline blew hole after hole in the brittle home defence.
They could and should have made more of their chances to make it an easier night.
The opening score came from wing Rob Russell after some neat play from his front five.
Home outside half Tinus de Beer had his kick downfield near halfway charged down by Ross Molony and the ricochet went straight to tight head prop Tom Clarkson.
He ran straight and hard before giving Russell a free 40 metre race to the posts for a try that Ross Byrne converted.
Cardiff lost skipper No 8 Lopeti Tmani a minute later and then coughed up three successive penalties in their own 22. One line dive and two tap and go five metre penalties later and Max Deegan burrowed his way over for the second try.
It seemed like the perfect payback for 2022, yet over the course of the next half-an-hour the gutsy home side hit back with a De Beer penalty and conversion of the first of two tries from loosehead prop Rhys Carre to take a 15-12 lead into the break.
You had to go back to 1 January for the last Leinster loss, a bruising 22-21 defeat in Dublin to Ulster, and just for a brief moment there were a few who dared to dream in the Welsh capital. It didn’t help Leinster’s cause that Jordan Larmour, celebrating his 100th game for the province, was off the field for 10 minutes either side of the interval after picking up a yellow car.
The visitors started the second half with a bang.
They thought they had edged ahead when Tom Clarkson burrowed over from a metre out, but that try was ruled out by the TMO after Byrne had hit the post with his conversion.
It didn’t matter, though, because three minutes later Michael Milne got over the line and this time Byrne added the extras. Flushed with success, Milne added a second on the hour mark to bag the bonus point.
Another replacement front rower, John McKee, added a fifth and Cardiff bagged their third through Aled Summerhill as they fought to the end.
Cardiff: Jacob Beetham (Willis Halaholo 25); Owen Lane, Max Clark, Ben Thomas, Aled Summerhill; Tinus de Beer, Ellis Bevan (Matthew Aubrey 71); Rhys Carré (Rhys Barratt 71), Liam Belcher (Dafydd Hughes 71), Will Davies-King (Ciaran Parker 56), Shane Lewis-Hughes, Josh Turnbull (captain, Ben Donnell 56), Ellis Jenkins, Thomas Young (Lucas de la Rua 73), Lopeti Timani (Alun Lawrence 6)
Leinster: Jordan Larmour; Liam Turner, Jamie Osborne, Harry Byrne (Ben Brownlee 62), Rob Russell; Ross Byrne (Sam Prendergast 71), Luke McGrath (Ben Murphy 71); Jack Boyle (Michael Milne 30), Lee Barron (John McKee 53), Thomas Clarkson (Michael Ala’alatoa 52), Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins (Brian Deeny 52), Will Connors (Rhys Ruddock), Scott Penny (Captain), Max Deegan
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
