Latest
Overview
Season so far
Tournament record
Leinster host Castres Olympique in round five aiming to keep up the pressure on pool 2 rivals Harlequins and Wasps. - 13/01/2015 10:56
Leinster host Castres Olympique in round five aiming to keep up the pressure on pool 2 rivals Harlequins and Wasps.
The Irish province are currently second in pool 2 but level on 13 points with leaders Harlequins, who welcome Wasps to the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday night.
A maximum points victory would put Leinster in the driving seat for qualification for the knock-out stages ahead of their mouth-watering showdown with Wasps in round six.
Leinster head coach Matt O’Connor said: “We will be looking for maximum points, Castres have struggled a bit away from home but we will have to be clinical and patient. When we get opportunities we have to take them and if we can do that we give ourselves the best opportunity going into the final game.
“It will be interesting to see what happens with Quins and Wasps, that will give us a better idea of what’s required the following week. If we can get two wins that will certainly put us there or there abouts and hopefully we can finish top.
“Someone is going to lose when Quins play Wasps, so someone will be out of the reckoning, we have to make sure that we take care of work in our own back yard and control what happens to us by putting out a good performance and getting as many points as we can.”
Castres are rock bottom of pool 2 having taken just one point from their opening four fixtures and they are likely to make several changes for the trip to Ireland.
They remain in a precarious position in France’s Top 14 but have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks.
Back-to-back wins over La Rochelle and Montpellier over the Christmas and New Year break were a welcome relief for the French side but they were hammered 49-13 by Stade Francais in their last outing.
Match Facts
- Leinster Rugby have won four of the five meetings between these two sides, including the last three in a row.
- Leinster have lost just one of their last 19 home games against French opposition in the tournament, whilst Castres Olympique have lost on all eight trips to Ireland in the Champions Cup.
- Leinster have the best ruck success rate (97%) whilst Castres have the worst (91%) in this season’s tournament.
- Ian Madigan (58) leads the way for points scored so far in the tournament, he has slotted 20/25 kicks at goal in the tournament; no other player has passed the half century this season.
- Leinster are the most tackled team in the tournament this season; they have been tackled 570 times in their four games; Castres made 119 of those tackles in Round 2.
Le Leinster avait besoin d'une victoire bonifiée pour rester en course. Mission accomplie face à une équipe castraise trop vite résignée (50-8) qui a encaissé sept essais. - 17/01/2015 20:32
Leinster claimed their biggest Champions Cup win for nine years with a seven-try demolition of Castres Olympique.
Ian Madigan kicked 15 points including six conversions as Leinster ran riot at the RDS Showground.
David Kearney, Marty Moore, Eoin Reddan and Sean Cronin all scored in the first half to secure a bonus-point by the break.
Matt O’Connor then turned to the bench in the second half and will have been pleased with the show of strength in depth as replacements Tadhg Furlong, Darrag Fanning and Luke McGrath completed the comfortable win that sets up a decisive clash against Wasps at Ricoh Arena in the final round.
There was an air of expectancy at the RDS Showground – where Leinster had only once lost a European tie – against the bottom side in Pool 2.
And it took Dave Kearney less than three minutes to get the former champions on course for a bonus-point win.
It stemmed from their dominance up front, having taken a scrum against the head and then provided an attacking platform from the lineout.
Kocket cut the lead to four points with a 22nd-minute penalty but that was to be as close as Castres would come to Leinster.
Maddigan kicked three points and Leinster were then handed a opportunity against 14 men when Castres flanker Ibrahim Diarra was binned for infringing.
They took that chance in style as Moore and Reddan both crossed during the ten-minute advantage.
The seven Castres forwards could not prevent the Leinster pack rumbling over and Moore helped himself to his first European try.
Marcus Garvey thought he had clawed back a score for the French after speeding past three defenders but was ruled to used a double movement to touch down.
Moments later and Reddan was on the right side of TMO decision after wriggling over for a third and Cronin burst through for the bonus point on the stroke of half-time.
The RDS was brought to its feet by Rob Kearney’s wonderful leap to snatch a high kick before racing up field but the Ireland full-back was denied a try, chased down agonisingly short by Garvey.
Prop Furlong had no such trouble when he burst onto Richardt Strauss’ pass.
Fellow replacement Fanning then claimed Leinster’s sixth from Luke McGrath’s delightful inside pass after Benjamin Desroche saw his effort ruled out for a forward pass.
Having seen two tries ruled out by the video referee, Castres finally secured their first try at the third attempt when Romain Martial scooped up a loose ball to cross in the 70th minute.
But there was still time for Leinster to score again when McGrath sped through two minutes from time.
LIVE - TEST - Commentary