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Reigning champions Leinster know a victory in Glasgow over the Warriors will complete the first step of their defence of their Heineken Cup title on Sunday afternoon. - 13/01/2012 08:02
Leinster are one of only two sides who have already reached the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with the final round of the knockout stages still to be played this weekend.
The reigning champions are the Pool 3 leaders and qualified for the last eight of the tournament with their 23-16 victory over the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland last weekend.
But the Dubliners are still not guaranteed a crucial home draw in the quarter-finals and will be determined to achieve that against a Montpellier side which still has ambitions of a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
The Irish Province, who lifted the Heineken Cup in 2009 and 2011, salvaged a 16-all draw when the two sides met for the first time in the Pool 3 opener on French soil back in November.
The French side, who reached the Top 14 final last season and are in their first season of Heineken Cup rugby, are the only side to have held the champions so far during this campaign.
Le Leinster a beau être déjà qualifié pour les quarts de finale de la H Cup
Leinster may have already qualified for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals but they kept their unbeaten record in Pool 3 with this comfortable win over French side Montpellier in Dublin.
The reigning champions, who lifted the trophy for the second time in last season’s epic final over Northampton Saints at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, had already qualified for the knockout stages last weekend.
But this impressive victory over a Montpellier side, who had nothing to play for but pride at the RDS, stretched Leinster’s unbeaten record in the Heineken Cup to a dozen matches.
Leinster fly-half Jonathan Sexton was a late withdrawal just before kick-off with a recurrence of his ankle injury and was replaced by Ian Madigan, starting his first Heineken Cup game, but it hardly had an impact on the home side.
The hosts soon established their superiority and had scored a point a minute when they took an early lead of 17-0 after 17 minutes of this contest, with tries by flanker Sean O’Brien and full-back Rob Kearney and the boot of wing Fergus McFadden.
The Irish province went down to 14-men when they lost second row Damian Browne midway through the first half for a professional foul but despite immense Montpellier pressure the home side didn’t concede a point.
McFadden added his second penalty to stretch Leinster’s lead to 20-0 at half-time but soon extended their lead just after the break when prop Cian Healy barged over from short-range.
Wing Martin Butos Moyano did manage to get the visitors on the scoreboard with a penalty on the 67th minute but that was all they had to show despite having their periods of pressure and dominance in the game.
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