Three second-half tries seal the win against Connacht in Galway for Leinster

January 24, 2026
192
Ultimate Rugby

CONNACHT 23-34 LEINSTER RUGBY

Leinster came to Galway with one mission in mind. It was to ruin the party at the Dexcom Stadium. They did just that.

Fintan Gunne, RG Snyman, Charlie Tector and Ciaran Frawley provided the tries that accounted for the bonus-point victory.

For all the worry about a poor start to the season, Leinster were a bonus-point win away from climbing into second place in the United Rugby Championship.

When the music had ended and the smoke had cleared, it was time for the players to deliver their own fireworks.

Sam Illo smashed into Gus McCarthy. Josh Ioane put Cathal Forde away. The Conachht scrum squeezed out a penalty.

McCarthy snapped up a loose lineout ball to turn defence into attack and a Leinster penalty was angled to the corner by Harry Byrne.

A tap penalty was taken up by McCarthy. RG Snyman had a pop. Niall Smyth went left. Gunne picked and placed for a try, converted by Byrne in the ninth minute.

By this time, centre Forde and tight-head Sam Illo had been forced off to be temporarily replaced by Bundee Aki and Jack Aungier.

Connacht went in search of an immediate response, the forwards binding around Cian Prendergast to drive a maul.

The focus narrowed for the big men to make it a battle of wills, backed up by a raucous crowd. Dylan Tierney Martin grounded the ball. Sam Gilbert converted for 7-all in the 13th minute.

A Leinster power play was designed to service Joshua Kenny before Connacht recovered to force a knock-on and hammer out a scrum penalty near the 40-metre line.

Unfortunately, Leinster loose-head Jack Boyle was helped off with an injury to his right leg for Jerry Cahir to make his latest impact off the bench and for Connacht to crank up another scrum penalty.

Another moving maul was augmented by the hard-charging Forde and Shane Jennings before James Lowe was penalised for Gilbert to make it 10-7 in the 23rd minute.

The back and forth at the scrum continued with a penalty against Illo. Byrne sliced the posts from straight in front in the 27th minute.

James Ryan stole a lineout. Gunne tumbled a kick deep inside the 22, where Connacht could not secure the lineout.

Byrne’s crossfield ball almost put James Lowe in the clear before Byrne came back for another three points, taking the lead 13-10 in the 31st minute.

An infringement at the ruck allowed Connacht full-back Gilbert to make it a draw game again from left of the posts.

A high tackle by Prendergast conceded valuable ground. When McCarthy broke away from the lineout, Sean Jansen smashed the hooker backwards to fire up the crowd.

Connacht were deriving energy from their defence, shutting down Charlie Tector at the end of a long lineout throw and preventing a Snyman offload to close the half.

The Connacht maul was a weapon from the lineout. A smart move to the front of the next one saw Caolan Blade haring up the right tramline, where Alex Soroka intervened.

Sean Jansen’s unorthodox pass came off. Tierney Martin examined the space on the right from Harry West’s pass.

Forde made 10 metres through heavy traffic. Jansen ate up a few more. Tierney Martin drove it up. Paul Boyle was held up over the line by Snyman and Niall Smyth.

Connacht were still in position. Short, sharp passes by Ioane and Forde opened up space for Jansen to spin out of a tackle on the left.

Finn Tracey flipped the ball inside for centre West to gallop over. Gilbert added the conversion for 20-13 in the 49th minute.

Gunne broke free from a ruck for 30 metres. Synman was there in support. Forde made the tackle. Prendergast wrestled away a penalty on the floor.

Kenny clutched Gunne’s kick. Denis Buckley gave up a penalty at the breakdown. Byrne angled the kick towards the corner.

James Ryan grabbed the lineout. The close-in carrying of Leinster was ended by Jansen’s monster tackle on Scott Penny.

However, a scrum penalty for Leinster triggered a tap penalty. A terrific line by Tector was the forerunner to Snyman’s decisive drive to the line, Byrne tagging on the conversion for 20-all in the 58th minute.

From a straight-forward move, centre Tector powered between Tierney-Martin and Jack Aungier to have the legs to make the line for another seven points at the posts.

Joshua Kenny collected one high ball from Blade and spilt another from Luke McGrath to hand Connacht a scrum near halfway.

Back-to-back penalties at the scrum and the ruck allowed Gilbert to clip the lead to four points in the 67th minute.

Leinster moved the ball smoothly right to left for Lowe’s long, low kick to kiss off Tracey’s foot for a scrum five.

First, the hard work was done by Ronan Kelleher and Scott Penny from a free-kick. The ball was shifted left for Byrne to put Frawley in for the bonus-point, Byrne’s conversion taking the lead out to eleven points.

The experienced scrum-half McGrath slammed the ball deep inside the 22. Jack Carty returned the favour.

The Leinster half-backs were content to see out the game by putting the ball in the air, Shane Jennings losing the ball forward as Connacht ran out of ideas.