Leinster scored four second-half tries to beat the Kings 31-10 in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, reports SIMON BORCHARDT.
The Irish province were without several players due to injury, as well as captain Isa Nacewa and scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park, who were denied entry to South Africa due to visa issues, yet they were still too strong for a rebuilding Kings team.
It was the Kings’ third successive defeat in the Pro14 and they remain rooted to the bottom of the Conference B log, while Leinster’s third successive bonus-point win took them to the top.
In front of a woeful crowd at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Masixole Banda kicked an early penalty to open the scoring for the Kings. It was Leinster, though, who grabbed the first try when Noel Reid rounded off a sustained attack by powering through the defence from close range.
The rest of the half was a scrappy affair, plagued by handling errors on both sides. The Kings would have been disappointed to have gone into the break 7-3 down, considering they had enjoyed 63% of the possession and forced Leinster to make 77 tackles.
But it was the Irish province that came out firing in the second half.
After a strong run by Seán Cronin, the ball went wide to Rory O’Loughlin, who went over for his side’s second try. Jack Conan then got past Rudi van Rooyen’s poor tackle-attempt to score, and after Joey Carbery dived over in the left corner, Leinster were 26-3 ahead after 53 minutes.
The Kings dominated the next period of play, but bashed away at the tryline with their forwards instead of taking advantage of an overlap out wide, and came away with nothing to show for their efforts.
Leinster worked their way back into the Kings half and a slick backline move saw Dave Kearney go over for their fifth try, before Jacques Nel scored a consolation try for the Kings with five minutes to go.
Leinster pushed hard for another try, but James Tracy was held up over the line after the hooter.
Kings – Try: Jacques Nel. Conversion: Kurt Coleman. Penalty: Masixole Banda.
Leinster – Tries: Noel Reid, Rory O’Loughlin, Jack Conan, Joey Carbery, Dave Kearney. Conversions: Ross Byrne (3).
Kings – 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Khaya Majola, 5 Dries van Schalkwyk, 4 Stephen Greeff, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (c), 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Subs: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Petrus Strauss, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Bobby de Wee, 20 Siyabulela Mdaka, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Jacques Nel.
Leinster – 15 Joey Carbery, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 James Ryan, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Ed Byrne.
Subs: 16 James Tracy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Jordan Larmour.
Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
