Leinster punish 14-man Connacht in URC rout

First blood, Leinster.

This was the first of three meetings between the sides in a four-week spell and the suggestion was that this URC clash was Connacht's best shot at a win.

But, with both sides missing their front-line internationals, Connacht shot themselves in the foot after just three minutes.

Leinster were temporarily down to 14 after the first play of the game when Tommy O’Brien was sin-binned for challenging Niall Murray in the air from the kick-off.

That numerical advantage lasted just over two minutes before Tom Daly barged into Ciaran Frawley making shoulder contact with the Leinster centre’s head.

After initially calling a penalty only for a no wrap tackle, referee Chris Busby had no choice but to red card the Connacht back upon review with the TMO.

Daly apologised to Frawley on his way off, waved a mea culpa to the Clan Stand and sank off the pitch under the disapproving eye of head coach Andy Friend.

The Australian had targetted a minimum of four wins from their five remaining regular season games and he knew they had given themselves a huge mountain to climb.

Their first-half bounce back seemed to suggest that they could indeed pull off a shock and Tieran O’Halloran’s try at the end of the half put them ahead, however, Leinster’s class showed and they ran in six second-half tries to claim all the points and extend their lead at the top of the table.

More to follow....

Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; John Porch, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, Oran McNulty; Jack Carty (capt), Kieran Marmion; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier; Oisin Dowling, Niall Murray; Cian Prendergast, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler

Replacements: Jonny Murphy, Matthew Burke, Greg McGrath, Ultan Dillane, Paul Boyle, Caolin Blade, Sammy Arnold,