There was a period in this game where Harlequins needed to get the combination to the scoreboard and punch in the digits, quickly. Any class of score would have sufficed: try, penalty, drop goal – just something to put some ink on the page and look forward to receiving the restart and maybe writing another positive paragraph. That period covered the first 10 minutes of the game. It was a long trek that followed, much enjoyed by the crowd of 55,267 who look forward now to another home quarter-final tie – across town in the Aviva Stadium – on Friday night.
When at its end they were held up over the Leinster line, from which Sam Prendergast nonchalantly dropped out into the Quins half, there was a lost opportunity sign hanging around the necks of the away side. In the midst of it all they had a handy penalty shot for three points but passed it up.
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Which is not to suggest that’s where it all went wrong for them, rather if you’re away from home and a door opens then walk through it. For the rest of the game it was slammed in their faces. Repeatedly.
Leinster looked like Leinster are supposed to look: very good. Having established that, they went into indulgent mode, stacking a great big bonfire with pallets of tries. It was fitting that James Lowe should get over for the last two – the man of the match award went to Josh van der Flier but Lowe was outstanding.
Leinster’s go-to party game these days is sacking opponents behind enemy lines. Less Call of Duty and more Fill Your Boots. They did a fair bit of that in the opening 40 minutes, developing the trend to include skittling lads out of the way when Leinster were carrying.
That was key to the opening try – Dan Sheehan hanging out wide and then running over Leigh Halfpenny – for Prendergast, and just three minutes later in the long and impressive build up to Joe McCarthy running over for five points at the Hill 16 end. In a range of Harlequins coming off second best, captain Alex Dombrandt suffered with and without the ball in collisions with Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson Park. The No 8 looked like he was having a miserable time.
Andrew Osborne won’t have cheered him up when he got over for Leinster’s third, inside the half hour. He may not be an automatic starter for Ireland but he should be an easy pick for Andy Farrell in the Lions squad. If you put a premium on having a booming left boot in your armoury, with a skill range and versatility of a very high order, then Osborne ticks all those boxes. For added value he doesn’t get flustered easily.
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It was hard to know where they could start a revival, going in 19-0 down at the break. Missing out on the first score of the new half was non-negotiable, and when they failed that test they started going backwards at a rate of knots. At the finish their tries conceded column was flashing the big 10. Not a great day out.
