The try line was just a hop, skip and a jump away for Sean Cronin tonight as he left Leigh Halfpenny clutching at straws.
No stranger to running at defences, Leinster’s hooker needed just 13 minutes to grab his first try of the RaboDirect PRO12 season, and it was a nimble finish from the former Connacht man.
The game saw some key Lions players square off with Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip, Brian O’Driscoll and Cian Healy coming up against former team-mates in Sam Warburton, Alex Cuthbert and Leigh Halfpenny at the RDS tonight.
And it was Lions Player of the tournament Halfpenny who was left grasping fresh air when O’Driscoll fed the hooker, who taking the ball at pace only had the Welshman standing in his way, showed nimble footwork and balance to jump over the would-be tackle.
It was their only try in the half that saw Leinster take an interval lead of 13 – 6.
