Gibson-Park hat-trick eases Leinster past Leicester

Gibson-Park’s tries was pivotal in sealing win for hosts – Irish side now face La Rochelle for the fifth time in four seasons

Was there truly any other feasible outcome than a comfortable Leinster victory? Leicester, missing three of their most potent forwards, sporadically spoilt the party but it was the Irish province and their starting XV of 13 internationals who progressed to the quarter-finals. 
Even if it was not entirely convincing, Leinster’s reward comes in the form of La Rochelle, the two-time reigning champions, in a repeat of last year’s final on the same ground in Dublin.
The scoreline belies Leicester’s spirit and, had the Tigers travelled to Dublin at full strength, the outcome might have been closer than many predicted. For the fourth time in three seasons, these two adversaries faced off but on this occasion none of George Martin, Ollie Chessum – two of England’s outstanding forwards in England’s Six Nations victory over Ireland last month – nor Wales’s openside supremo Tommy Reffell was fit for Leicester. 
The likes of James Cronin – a try-scorer in the country of his birth playing the game of his life – and the visiting back row were tremendous. As was Jack van Poortvliet; how the Tigers have missed him. If Leicester can mirror this form for the Premiership run-in, then qualification for the play-offs should be a foregone conclusion.
“I was disappointed after [the pool match],” said Leicester head coach, Dan McKellar, “because we had our chances. It was no different [last] night. I was pleased with the fight but one team took their opportunities and the other didn’t. I said to the boys that if we turn up with the same intent [every week] then we’ll be in the Premiership final on June 8. No doubt. We just have to get the next month right.”
This was not vintage Leinster – and, certainly, La Rochelle will not have been quaking in their boots – but at the heart of it all was Jamison Gibson-Park. Ireland’s No 9 has established himself as one of the world’s greatest and it was his 30-minute hat-trick which ultimately nudged Leinster out of Leicester’s grasp. Without Gibson-Park’s canny support lines, the tale might have been different.
AND HE MAKES IT 3️⃣Jamison Gibson-Park is running it on repeat making it a third try for @leinsterrugby 👀🏉#LEIvLEI | #InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/gNpMzi6juD
“Job done,” said Leo Cullen, Leinster head coach. “It was a bit bitty, but it’s knockout rugby against a highly motivated team. Us turning up and Leicester rolling over was never going to be the case.”
And so it proved. Leicester’s fans arrived in Dublin having been slung about in the Storm Kathleen washing machine and their players mirrored that dynamism. The Tigers opened with as impressive a try as they have scored all season as Cronin and, most prominently, Wiese punched holes in the Leinster paper. Van Poortvliet’s inviting pass offered Dan Kelly a half-break, and a delicate offload sent Handré Pollard over. The fly-half, confronting Leinster head coach Jacques Nienaber with whom he and Wiese won last year’s World Cup, added the extras.
What a start from Leicester 👀Handrè Pollard powers it over the line for @LeicesterTigers to get them ahead from the start 💪🏉#LEIvLEI | #InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/Nz1zcJVEdf
Momentarily, Leinster wriggled on the end of Leicester’s rod, but eventually the hosts broke free, scoring seamlessly and swiftly. Two phases for the first of Gibson-Park’s tries, and only a few more for the second and third. Wiese leaked a couple of penalties and Leinster’s scrum-half bagged his first, tracking intelligently inside Joe McCarthy. Stylish and simple; Leinster’s forwards beat Leicester’s pack around the corner and the hosts were queuing up to score.
A one-two between Dan Sheehan and Gibson-Park gave Leinster a second before the scrum-half was once again found on the inside, by Jamie Osborne. Add in a key McCarthy turnover with half-time approaching and that was virtually game over, despite a Pollard penalty for a Porter barge on Van Poortvliet.
Straight after the interval, James Lowe’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on fed Leicester’s belief, and Cronin’s try from a meaty maul did little to change that. With Leinster rattled, Leicester started winning collisions and pilfering ball. But Robbie Henshaw intercepting Kelly’s pass was a sucker punch that not even Jack Conan’s try-scoring fumble could ease.
A sloppy exchange between Ross Byrne and Gibson-Park gave Leicester another sniff, but Conan atoned for his earlier error with a final flourish. For Tigers, a deserved late Charlie Clare score suggested that the wounds can be licked. For Leinster, Ronan O’Gara’s French behemoths, their bogey side, await. One way or another, notwithstanding the weather, there will be another storm in Dublin next weekend.