Rugby story by Gareth Bowman, Mon, 23 Jan 2006 09:12:00 GMT


Leinster assured their place in the quarterfinals of the Heineken Cup with a stunning 35-23 victory over Bath at the Recreation Ground. Brian O'Driscoll was the star for the home side as they wrapped up the win in style, thus depriving Bath the chance to finish with a 100 percent win record.

This win for Leinster means the end of the road for Leeds and a home quarter final for Munster who beat Sale 31-9 on the previous day. Brian O'Driscoll was in top form as Leinster scored five tries. O'Driscoll had a hand in four of them. He scored one himself and set up the other three.

This was a stunning showing given the fact that this was only his fourth start since the injury at Christchurch in a Lions' Test in June last year. Bath had seemingly lost the game when Leinster led 35-9 with just over 10 minutes remaining, but the leaders in Pool Five made up for a lackluster display in those 10 minutes scoring two tries and generally chasing the ball everywhere.

Bath boss Brian Ashton denied that his team was lazy since they had already qualified for the quarterfinals; “We're not using that as an excuse. We knew Leinster would come at us in a storm but we didn't hold out against them," he said.

“And when you give ball to a back division that has Brian O'Driscoll in their ranks and they are on the front foot, they will inflict the sort of damage they did to us." O'Driscoll admitted that he struggled for the last 10 minutes, “I'm getting closer to where I want to be but hopefully there's a lot more to come from me," he said.

Leinster will face defending champions Toulouse and Bath take on Leicester in the quarter finals slated for April.

Match Details
Bath: M Stephenson; A Higgins, T Cheeseman, S Finau, F Welsh; O Barkley (C Malone 73), N Walshe (A Williams 70); D Flatman (D Bell 41), L Mears, M Stevens, S Borthwick (capt, J Hudson 74), D Grewcock, A Beattie, M Lipman, G Delve (P Short 76).

Leinster: G Demsey (R Kearney 41); S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi (K Lewis 77), G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney (D Blaney 80), W Green (E Byrne 63), B Williams, M O'Kelly (A Byrnes 80), C Jowitt (E Miller 35), K Gleeson, J Heaslip.

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