Bath have been flagging of late, one victory in 10 matches before welcoming the Champions Cup holders, which is maybe why they decided to confiscate 1,500 Leinster flags before the match on health and safety grounds. They succeeded in lowering the provinces’s standard, but could not stop it fluttering on a dank afternoon when defences prevailed.
The Leinster supporters’ club intended to hand them out to members before kick-off. They would have been useful to shield their eyes after a first half that was a triumph for the conditions. Bath have been typical in recent weeks of the muddling mediocrity in the Premiership below the top two: as the weather has deteriorated, so have skill levels but here they worked to the advantage of Bath who from the outset played the role of underdog despite home advantage.
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Sam Underhill wasted no opportunity to leave his calling card on Jonathan Sexton, who more than once was slow to get up after a challenge. Bath, with another openside flanker, Francois Louw, scavenged enthusiastically from the breakdown and they took the lead after forcing a turnover.
Sexton had hit the post with a penalty after 10 minutes, but Leinster were looking slightly off the pace with most of their side having last played three weeks before. Bath hustled them and when Dan Leavy picked up from a scrum five metres from his own line at the start of the second quarter, he was tackled around his ankles by the scrum-half Will Chudley. As the No 8 fell to ground, he was overwhelmed by home forwards. Tom Dunn attacked a retreating defence as Bath exploited the turnover and two phases later the prop Henry Thomas was helped over the line.
Leinster slowly regrouped and after Sexton’s break had been taken on by Garry Ringrose, started to exert control. Noel Reid’s chip into Bath’s 22 for Jordan Larmour was gathered by Joe Cokanasiga but as the England wing got to his feet he was snared by three opponents and conceded a penalty for holding on. Rhys Ruddock secured the resulting lineout and as Leinster got into gear for a drive to the line, the ball was smuggled back to Sean Cronin and the outcome was inevitable.
Bath rushed up quickly on the flanks to force Leinster to cut back inside and they sniped effectively with Thomas making a telling burst. Sexton spoke to the referee a few times, but Leinster adapted to circumstance and after the sides were tied 7-7 at the interval, they took the lead for the first time with a fortuitous try nine minutes into the second period.
Cronin’s throw into a lineout near halfway was taken by the wind and seized by Bath. James Wilson, playing at outside-half one week after signing to provide injury cover, tried to miss out two players with a 20m pass, as if assuming advantage was being played. It wasn’t and when Larmour seized the ball, he had too much of a lead for Cokanasiga to overhaul.
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“We got a bit lucky,” said the Leinster coach, Leo Cullen. “The lineout was crooked and it was a big moment in the game. It was a mixed performance and we have a lot to work on ahead of the return game on Saturday.”
Bath kept slugging it out but desperation came into their play after Wilson missed a 40m penalty. Cokanasiga escaped without a card after clattering into Luke McGrath as he chased a kick, catching the scrum-half on the head as they both skidded on the saturated surface. The referee, Mathieu Raynal, decided that the contact, while high, was unavoidable.
It was not Cokanasiga’s afternoon. As Bath attacked in Leinster’s 22 they lost the ball, not for the first time. James Lowe kicked long and chased hard, catching Cokanasiga and forcing a penalty out of the wing, who limped off one minute from time. Ross Byrne kicked the three points with Sexton, who later hobbled off with a calf strain, having treatment.
It gave Leinster a cushion and while Bath secured the bonus point they merited with Wilson’s late penalty, had skill under pressure matched their effort they would have had more. Anything other than a win in Dublin and they are out.