Southern Kings hammered by Leinster in Dublin

Leinster scrumhalf Nick McCarthy scored two tries against the Southern Kings. Photo: www.leinsterrugby.ie

Leinster scrumhalf Nick McCarthy scored two tries against the Southern Kings. Photo: www.leinsterrugby.ie

Published Feb 24, 2018

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DUBLIN – The Southern Kings were subjected to a humiliating 64-7 PRO14 hiding at the hands of Leinster in Dublin on Friday.

Leinster, despite missing 11 players away on duty with the Irish national team, were still able to score 10 tries against a Kings team that barely fired a shot.

In short, the Kings were terribly poor and offered virtually nothing to the contest.

In the opening quarter the Kings did little more than tackle, and it was fortunate that they conceded just 14 points in a period that entirely belonged to Leinster.

The siege on the Kings’ red zone yielded tries to hooker Bryan Byrne and scrumhalf Nick McCarthy, both converted by flyhalf Ciarán Frawley.

It looked like the Dubliners were going to overwhelm the Kings, but there was a false dawn when the visitors responded with a series of penalties kicked to the corner that resulted in a try for hooker Michael Willemse, converted by Martin du Toit.

But that was it from the Kings as they hardly touched the ball again.

Leinster instantly retorted with a double strike through right wing Barry Daly and fullback Dave Kearney.

On the halfhour mark, hooker Byrne nailed his second off a lineout drive from a penalty to the corner and the conversion put the Kings in serious trouble at 33-7.

The rout was on the cards when five minutes before the break, relentless pressure saw flyhalf Ciaran Frawley stroll over untouched for his team’s sixth try.

What. A. Start. @leinsterrugby go over for their first try after just 3️⃣ minutes thanks to Bryan

Byrne #GUINNESSPRO14🔥💪

Follow all the action live on TG4 and SuperSport1 pic.twitter.com/2RI1z2ZG4R

— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) February 23, 2018

Five minutes into the second half, the humiliation for the Kings went past the 50-mark when scrumhalf McCarthy sauntered through for his second try, and a minute later, the scoreline for the Kings became seriously distressing when wing James Lowe scored his team’s eighth try.

Wing Daly scored his second try 15 minutes into the half, and then five minutes from time, the sorry tale was completed when substitute centre Jordan Larmour scored after a Kings fumble at the back.

Points-Scorers

Kings 7 – Try: Michael Willemse. Conversion: Martin du Toit.

Leinster 64 – Tries: Bryan Byrne (2), Nick McCarthy (2), Dave Kearney, Barry Daly (2), Ciaran Frawley, James Lowe, Jordan Larmour. Conversions: Frawley (7).

African News Agency (ANA)

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