Leinster raced out of the blocks in the Champions Cup final, scoring their opening try just 41 seconds into the clash with La Rochelle.
The visitors cleared into touch, and from the resulting lineout, Leinster landed the first blow.
Dan Sheehan opens the scoring
From outside the La Rochelle 22, lock Ross Molony leapt into the air, but hooker Dan Sheehan had another target in back-rower Jack Conan, who wrapped around and snatched the ball.
Conan sped into space, and with the La Rochelle defence closing in on him, he passed back to his hooker, who finished off the quickest try in Champions Cup history.
Leinster weren’t done yet, with Conan making another brilliant carry from the resulting restart.
James Lowe completed a brilliant 50:22 soon after, and while Leinster weren’t able to capitalise from that lineout, they did get a scrum deep inside the La Rochelle 22.
Incredible start to the final
From there, they launched another threatening attack which saw Jimmy O’Brien dive over in the same corner Sheehan did.
It was a relentless start from the Irish province chasing a fifth Champions Cup title, and in the 11th minute, Sheehan claimed his second try.
It was another sweeping move from Leinster as they ventured into the 22. From there, the hooker was stationed out wide and screamed for the ball and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park duly responded.
He threw a superb skip pass to the hooker, who sped away to give Leinster a 17-0 lead after just 12 minutes.
La Rochelle eventually responded when Jonathan Danty bounced off Garry Ringrose and slammed the ball down to open his side’s account in the 19th minute.
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The article WATCH: Leinster stun La Rochelle with try 41 seconds into the final as brilliant lineout move pays off appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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