Leinster’s anguish from their Champions Cup Final loss last weekend will require a lot more than just a regular end-of-season bonus-point victory against Connacht, but at least Leo Cullen’s team started the mending process.
The fact that this was the last game to be played at the RDS before the stadium is reconstructed for the upcoming season added to the catharsis experienced by most of the 17,225 spectators.
Thus, Leinster bid a heartfelt farewell to their old ground and to several prominent members of the province, including Charlie Ngatai, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ed Byrne, Rhys Ruddock, and Ross Molony, whose tenure in blue is drawing to a conclusion.
Leinster is under pressure to avoid being trophyless for a third consecutive year as they get ready to move temporarily over the road to the Aviva Stadium, beginning with the URC Quarterfinal next week.
Connacht had another difficult night in Dublin, and although they had a remote chance of qualifying for the Play-Offs going into the match, the Westerners were far from their best in this encounter, which summed up a disappointing year. Head coach Pete Wilkins has a tough summer ahead of him trying to get Connacht back on track, but a season in the Challenge Cup awaits.
Thanks to two tries from Jimmy O’Brien, scores from Jack Conan, Ciarán Frawley, and Dan Sheehan, Leinster scored a five-pointer and moved up to the top of the table before Munster and the Bulls played today.
Cullen will be aware that, if they survive their match against the Bulls in the last eight, they will almost certainly play the Semi-Final away from home, most likely in Pretoria. Sam (age 21) went up to his older brother Cian (age 24) for the first time, earning him the right to brag in the Prendergast household.
Despite talks about a possible loan move to the Sportsground next season, Leinster will not want to lose Prendergast after this assured display. The youthful out-half played the final 20 minutes at full-back.
The native of Kildare was involved in two of his team’s three first-half tries. Prendergast skillfully released his No. 8 through a gap in Connacht’s vulnerable defence, and he then offloaded to Frawley, who dived over, after Jimmy O’Brien was put in following a scrum.
Prendergast kicked all four of his conversions with the same level of assurance.
