Ireland star scores hat-trick as Leinster dispose of Leicester to set up La Rochelle clash
Jamison Gibson-Park scoring for Leinster against Leicester Tigers.
Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park scored a first-half hat-trick as Leinster saw off Leicester Tigers 36-22 in their Champions Cup round of 16 fixture on Saturday.
The impressive number nine completed the feat inside 30 minutes of the match at the Aviva Stadium as he starred in a classy display that set Leinster on their way to victory.
Robbie Henshaw and Jack Conan also scored tries while Ross Byrne and Harry Byrne added extras off the tee as the Irish outfit progress to a last-eight date with La Rochelle.
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The French side, who edged the Stormers in Cape Town, will return to Dublin for next week’s heavyweight quarter-final, 11 months on from retaining their European crown.
Leicester repeated their fast start from January’s fourth-round clash, with James Cronin and Jasper Wiese combining on a midfield break.
Playing with a penalty advantage, Springbok Handre Pollard was released by Dan Kelly’s neat offload to crash over and convert.
Player-of-the-match Gibson-Park soon took centre stage, though, as he was prominent in the lead-up to a Ross Byrne penalty and then picked up a brace of tries in an 11-minute spell.
The Ireland scrum-half raced over in the 12th minute after Dan Sheehan had sprung Joe McCarthy in between two defenders. Ross Byrne converted and then watched his half-back partner take a return pass from Sheehan to score on the left.
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Ollie Hassell-Collins got a chance to stretch his legs, leading to a 28th-minute Pollard penalty, but Leicester’s leaky defence coughed up a third try in response.
Jamie Osborne’s sharp attacking line opened the visitors up and the supporting Gibson-Park broke Freddie Steward’s tackle and darted around Jack van Poortvliet to cruise in under the posts. Ross Byrne’s extras put 12 points between the sides.
Tigers were far from finished as an early second-half scrum penalty – a strong aspect of their game – was followed by Lowe’s yellow card and Cronin was quickly driven over, with Pollard unfortunate to hit the near post with the conversion.
Dan McKellar’s side promised more, with Hanro Liebenberg forcing a turnover, but Kelly’s midfield pass was picked off by Henshaw for a sucker-punch score from halfway, converted by Ross Byrne for a 29-15 scoreline.
Knocks picked up by fly-half Ross Byrne and Cian Healy added to Leinster’s injury concerns but Conan, having missed out on an earlier try, did manage to finish off a smart break from Ryan Baird.
Clare had the final say, profiting from a mistimed lineout from the Irish province who know they cannot afford to repeat the same errors when the defending champions come to town.
The teams
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Joe McCarthy, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Michael Ala’alatoa, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Ciarán Frawley
Leicester: 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Freddie Steward, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Olly Cracknell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Kyle Hatherell, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 James Cronin
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Finn Carnduff, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Phil Cokanasiga, 23 Mike Brown
Referee: Pierre Brousset (FRA)
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Rozier (FRA), Kévin Bralley (FRA)
TMO: Denis Grenouillet (FRA)
