Leinster ease past Sharks to secure home semi-final

Leinster earned a home semi-final in the BKT United Rugby Championship with a business-like 35-5 win over the Cell C Sharks at the Aviva Stadium.

Grant Williams' 10th try of the URC campaign saw the injury-hit Sharks strike early, but Makazole Mapimpi’s yellow card in attempting to stop Caelan Doris’ score was followed by two more converted efforts from Leinster.

Michael Milne and Jordan Larmour both crossed to establish a 21-5 half-time lead, with further seven-pointers from Max Deegan and replacement Jamison Gibson-Park putting the Irish province through to face either Glasgow Warriors or Munster next week.

Thomas du Toit won the Sharks’ first scrum penalty, getting the decision over Milne, and scrum-half Williams followed up with a brilliant seventh-minute solo try.

The once-capped Springbok broke in between Tadhg Furlong and Ryan Baird before outpacing Dave Kearney for the right corner. Boeta Chamberlain’s conversion went wide.

An impressive Kearney counter attack put Leinster in position to respond, and Doris was fed from a maul to smash his way over past Mapimpi. The Sharks winger was sin-binned for an awkward head-led tackle.

Harry Byrne converted and also added the extras to Milne’s 20th-minute try, which saw the prop pile over with support from Deegan.

A Byrne cross-field kick played in Larmour for try number three, and the hosts also stopped a big drive from the Sharks pack, which had Carlu Sadie on for the injured du Toit.

A quickfire double for Leinster as Michael Milne barges over before Jordan Larmour finishes off a great team move moments later. #LEIvSHA