Leinster come from behind to beat Wasps

Leinster had to come from behind when they beat Wasps 25-12 at the the RDS in the Rugby Champions Cup on Sunday.

The Aviva Premiership side came to Dublin sniffing an upset and used the wind
in the first half to great effect as they marched into a 20-11 interval lead.
The only question at the break was would it be enough?

Ian Madigan gave Leinser the lead with a fifth minute penalty and then Andy
Goode replied with two kicks of his own.

Then came the first try of the game as Wasps centre Alapati Leiua intercepted
a home back line move on his 22 and sped all the way to the line for a try which
Goode improved.

Leinster were quick to reply with the first of Fanning’s tries. Madigan exploited
the space in behind Christian Wade on the narrow side of a ruck on the 10 Wasps’
10 metre line and Fanning sped onto the ball before claiming the try.

Dai Young’s side certainly came to play and hit Leinster with a try right
out of the top drawer when Christian Wade went round Madigan, sped away from
Fanning before diving over in the right corner for an amazing score.

Goode added the touchline conversion, but Madigan hauled back three points
on the stroke of half-time to give his side some extra impetus.

The second half was played in the rain as well as the wind and Leinster were
forced to dig deep to haul themselves back into the game.

Skipper Jamie Heaslip led by example, but it was Fanning’s second try that
made the difference and sparked the fightback on 51 minutes.

Madigan added the extras and all of a sudden the gap was cut to two points.
The blue tide kept moving upfield and back row man Dominic Ryan drove over the
line from five metres out for a try which was eventually confirmed by TMO Derek
Bevan after a lengthy inspection.

Madigan had no problem with the conversion and moving into the final quarter
the home side were 25-20 ahead. They went in search of the bonus point try,
but were happy in the end just to have turned around the scoreboard after Wasps’
great first-half performance.

Final Score Leinster 25 (11) Wasps 20 (20)

Scorers

Leinster
Tries – Fanning 2, Ryan
Pen – Madigan 2
Con – Madigan 2
Drop –
Cards –

Wasps
Tries – Leiua, Wade
Pen – Goode 2
Con – Goode 2
Drop –
Cards –

Teams

Leinster: 15 Ian Madigan, 14 Zane Kirchner, 13 Gordon D’Arcy, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Darragh Fanning, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Dominic Ryan, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Mike McCarthy, 3 Michael Bent, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Mick McGrath, 23 Luke Fitzgerald

Wasps: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 James Haskell (c), 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Bradley Davies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Matt Mullan

Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Chris Bell

With thanks to EPC Rugby.