Glasgow Warriors sent to cleaners with more Dublin demons, European exit and worrying injury

Glasgow Warriors came to Dublin to lay some ghosts from the past but ended up inheriting a whole host of new demons.

They were blown away by Leinster, with the bulk of the damage done in the first half. Five tries before the interval broke the visitors and three more after the break simply reinforced the hosts’ superiority.

The final scoreline was 52-0 and as hard as that will be for Glasgow to take, you couldn’t argue that it didn’t reflect the game at the Aviva.

Sam Prendergast was in excellent form for Leinster against Glasgow Warriors. | Getty Images

Leinster march on into the semi-finals of the Investec Champions Cup where they will host either Northampton Saints or Castres Olympique. Glasgow go home to lick their wounds.

Speaking on the eve of the match, Warriors coach Franco Smith had described Leinster as “arguably the best club team in the world” and they lived up to the billing with a display of frightening power and technique which will have even France’s heavyweight clubs worrying.

Leinster have lost the last three Champions Cup finals to sides from the Top 14 but on this evidence you would fancy them to go all the way this season.

Glasgow need their big guns back

True, Glasgow were missing an awful lot of quality. Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings and Jack Dempsey would enhance any team in the world but all are currently sidelined by injury. Matt Fagerson can be added to the list after appearing to suffer a serious-looking ankle issue. The Warriors need their big guns back and soon. This was a result that has potential to derail them but there is still much to play for as they seek to defend their URC crown.

They will need to come to Dublin again on league duty on May 17, and potentially again in the URC play-offs, and the Irish capital is not a happy place for the Warriors. They lost 43-19 to Toulon on their last visit to the Aviva in the 2023 Challenge Cup final. And their last quarter-final clash with Leinster ended in a 76-14 shellacking at the RDS in 2022.

Smith had hoped to change the narrative but they were never at the races.

Leinster had to wait until the 14th minute to score their first points and thereafter they steamrollered their visitors.

Sam Prendergast had his hand on the tiller and Jordie Barrett was a brilliant foil for him. The All Black was involved in the opening try, his quick hands finding Tommy O’Brien who spun it out to Max Deegan to score in the corner. Prendergast, a class act throughout, nailed the tricky conversion.

Not even the loss of their captain, Jack Conan, could disrupt Leinster. Caelan Doris is a more than decent replacement, of course, and the tries kept coming.

The Glasgow roof caves in

Kyle Rowe made a rare foray into enemy territory with a blistering run up the left but he ran out of steam. Leinster’s second score came soon after and this was when the roof fell in on Glasgow.

Jamie Dobie ran into trouble close to his own line and O’Brien stole it from him. Prendergast’s cross-kick found Ronan Kelleher loitering on the wing and his pass inside to Garry Ringrose was slapped away by Hastings. Referee Luke Pearce decided it was deliberate and delivered the double whammy: penalty try and a yellow card for the Warriors stand-off.

Leinster took full advantage, scoring two more tries while Hastings was in the sin-bin. Jamison Gibson-Park’s monster pass to James Lowe found the winger with the freedom of Dublin to dot down. And then O’Brien scored on the opposite wing as the ball was shuttled out the line.

Hastings returned but the Warriors were now 26-0 down and it got even worse before the break. Smith replaced Sione Vailanu with JP du Preez but there was no stopping the Leinster juggernaut and Hugo Keenan got their fifth try after a threaded grubber from Prendergast. The fly-half’s conversion saw the home side go into the changing rooms with a 33-0 lead.

It took then seven minutes of the second half to extend it. Kelleher won a turnover and Ringrose simply danced his way through tired Glasgow bodies to score.

Max Deegan of Leinster celebrates scoring his team's first try. | Getty Images

Leinster rang the changes but there was no obvious diminution in the quality. One of the replacements, Dan Sheehan, scored try number seven, profiting from a neat basketball pass from Josh van der Flier. Prendergast landed the conversion from the right on the touchline and then took a well-earned rest, replaced by Ross Byrne.

Little was going right for Glasgow and they lost Matt Fagerson to a serious looking injury. The Scotland back-rower was treated on the field for several minutes before having his left foot strapped into a medical boot. He received a sporting round of applause from the supporters inside the Aviva as he was carted off.

Deegan had got the ball rolling for Leinster with the opener and he completed the scoring with four minutes remaining, taking a smart cross-kick from Byrne to bag his second try and take the home side past the half-century of points.

Scorers

Leinster: Tries: Deegan 2, penalty try, Lowe, O’Brien, Keenan, Ringrose, Sheehan. Cons: Prendergast 5.

Yellow card: Hastings (Glasgow, 22min)

Leinster: H Keenan; T O'Brien, G Ringrose (R Henshaw 52), J Barrett, J Lowe; S Prendergast (R Byrne 60), J Gibson-Park (L McGrath 52); C Healy (A Porter 31), R Kelleher (D Sheehan 48), T Furlong (R Slimani 52), J McCarthy, RG Snyman (D Mangan 62), M Deegan, J van der Flier, J Conan (C Doris 14).

Glasgow Warriors: K Rowe; J Dobie, S McDowall, T Jordan, K Steyn; A Hastings, G Horne (B Afshar 60); N McBeth (J Bhatti 48), J Matthews (G Stewart 48), S Talakai (P Schickerling 60), G Brown (E Ferrie 55), A Samuel (M Williamson 60), M Fagerson (S Cancelliere 66), R Darge, S Vailanu (JP du Preez 33).

Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng).