The Hollywoodbets Sharks closed out their three-week European tour with a 31-5 loss to Leinster in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.
Both sides received an international boost, with five British & Irish Lions joining Leinster and four Springboks welcomed into the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ matchday 23.
Sadly, there was a disruption for the visitors, Jason Jenkins originally named at lock not playing, forcing a change, with captain Vincent Tshituka switching from loose forward to the second row and Nick Hatton moving from the bench to start at eighthman.
A high tempo start to the game saw Leinster rewarded with the first try of the game in the 11th minute, the conversion giving them an early 7- nil lead.
Getting good reward for competing at the breakdown, Leinster struck again 10 minutes later after a strong effort on attack for the visitors saw the home side steal ball and fight their way up-field, before a first phase attack off a scrum saw them double their score to 14-0.
Try number three came five minutes later, another breakdown penalty for the home side setting them up close to the line and there was no stopping Leinster playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this campaign.
As the game hit the half hour, Leinster found their attack on the halfway line, but a long pass to the wing was intercepted magically by Ethan Hooker who initially juggled the ball before stepping inside the retreating defence and then turned the afterburners on to streak the 50m down field to score his team’s first try.
Leinster put everything into attack in the final 10 minutes of the half, a pulsating period in which a dominant Hollywoodbets Sharks scrum showed their power was negated by some enterprising attack from the home side, but it was the sound defence from the visitors that ruled proud in the dying moments to keep the tryline intact and the scoreline 21-5 in favour of Leinster at the half-time break, the home side benefitting from their close-on 60% possession and territory in the first half.
Leinster won an arm-wrestle to score the bonus point try in the 49th minute, initially repelled with some physical defence close to the line, but eventually finding enough space out wide and rewarded with a strong forward effort to take a 26-5 lead with half an hour remaining.
Scrum dominance from the Hollywoodbets Sharks helped to build confidence, but a defensive lineout went awry in the 70th minute and Leinster snatched the loose ball to score an unconverted try to go 26 points clear with the final 10 minutes left to play.
Continuous scrum penalties against Leinster saw them lose their prop to the sin-bin, but they’d done enough in the game to avoid being punished for it and the game went into five minutes of extra time as both sides went in search of another score, but there was no change to the scoreboard despite the frenetic closure.