Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Leinster celebrate a first-half try by Tommy O'Brien.Dan Sheridan/INPHO Imperious Leinster obliterate Glasgow to reach Champions Cup semi-finals Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber’s side have scored 114 unanswered points in the knockout stages, keeping two clean sheets. 9.53pm, 11 Apr 2025 Share options Gavan Casey Reports from the Aviva Stadium Leinster 52 Glasgow Warriors 0 LEINSTER’S APPETITE FOR destruction remained incorrigible as they devoured Glasgow Warriors at the Aviva Stadium to book a Champions Cup semi-final against either Northampton Saints or Castres at the same Dublin venue. As was the case in their last-16 annihilation of Harlequins, their hunger for scores spanned 80 minutes with Leinster notching eight tries in all, though they’ll be equally satisfied that they inflicted a second consecutive goose-egg on their opposition. Five first-half efforts (Max Deegan, penalty try, James Lowe, Tommy O’Brien, Hugo Keenan) and three Sam Prendergast conversions gave the eastern province an unassailable 33-0 advantage at the turnaround. Three more five-pointers by Garry Ringrose, Dan Sheehan and Deegan, two of which were converted, provided the icing in the second half. But Leinster were equally ravenous in defence, denying Glasgow entry points and routinely lighting them up in contact to send the URC champions homewards to think again. Jordie Barrett (L) produced an extraordinary individual display for Leinster.Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO It’s only fair to point out that Franco Smith’s visitors were without several big hitters — Zander Fagerson, Jack Dempsey, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones through injury, and Henco Venter through suspension — but their surviving 23 were positively pulped at Lansdowne Road. That there was no quit in Warriors is a testament to them but equally serves to highlight Leinster’s superiority: Glasgow did not collapse like Harlequins but their punishment was almost as severe. Leinster have now scored 114 unanswered points in this season’s knockout stages, keeping each of their opponents scoreless across 160 minutes. The atmosphere around Ballsbridge before kick-off had been extremely low-key for a game of its magnitude. Whereas Leinster had marketed last Saturday’s last-16 clash with Harlequins at Croke Park for months, doing extraordinarily well to tempt 55,000 supporters into GAA HQ for an ostensibly guaranteed victory, six days to sell a tie with annual URC opponents Glasgow was a bit of an ask. The Friday-night kick-off was prohibitive for fans outside of Dublin who work regular hours, while eight Leinster counties are in provincial Gaelic football championship action this weekend. Until kick-off, the while vibe resembled more closely a URC game on a random weekend than it did a Champions Cup quarter-final and one wondered if that might suit Glasgow, the reigning champions of the former competition. But there was to be no proportionate dip in Leinster’s enthusiasm for the contest as Jordie Barrett and co. obliterated Glasgow within half an hour. Leinster and Glasgow enter the field.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO After an opening five minutes in which both sides created and snuffed out linebreak opportunities, Leinster obliterated a Glasgow scrum on halfway. With the penalty advantage, they swept left, with a tidy pass on the spin by Garry Ringrose and two fruitful involvements by Hugo Keenan taking them deep into the Glasgow 22′. Warriors, though, showed some defiance and blew Leinster off their own ball with a Rory Darge-led counter-ruck, referee Luke Pearce deeming the penalty advantage over. Leinster, however, flexed their muscles again in the 10th minute, a penalty to the corner eventually resulting in Jordie Barrett diving over under the sticks. Upon a replay, however, it became clear that Warriors wing Jamie Dobie had forced the ball from Garry Ringrose’s possession with a big hit, the ball bobbling forward from the centre into Barrett’s hands. No try, but Leinster had warmed their way into a groove. Their opener came on 13 minutes and it featured two beautiful passes by Jordie Barrett — who already looked a cut above the Glasgow midfield — as well as a series of offloads reminiscent of Croke Park last weekend. With his second touch of the move, Barrett offloaded to Tommy O’Brien near the right-hand corner, and O’Brien did well to pass out of contact to Max Deegan who dove over. Advertisement Sam Prendergast bisected the posts from the right-hand touchline to give his side a 7-0 lead. Max Deegan opens the scoring for Leinster.Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO Caelan Doris was then introduced for Jack Conan before Adam Hastings’ restart, taking over the Leinster captaincy. Conan had apparently been injured in a carry in the lead-up to Deegan’s try. Barrett’s opening quarter was an exhibition of rugby on either side of the ball and he denied Glasgow an almost certain try soon afterwards. Fullback Kyle Rowe chest-blocked a Tommy O’Brien chip down his own left edge, just inside the Glasgow half, and gathered the ball on the bounce. Rowe made for the line, handing off Sam Prendergast to gain clear sight of home. Barrett made up ground like a train to obscure his path and gassing slightly, Rowe chipped ahead too early with the Kiwi scooping up the loose ball, rounding the Glasgow man, and spiralling his clearance deep into Glasgow territory. It was an incredible intervention and Leinster doubled their lead moments later: a Doris-led counter-ruck about 10 metres from Glasgow’s line saw Tommy O’Brien seize the ball on the ground. Sam Prendergast’s crossfield kick landed in James Lowe’s bread basket on the left wing and his offload inside was batted forward cynically by Glasgow out-half Adam Hastings. Luke Pearce awarded the penalty try to Leinster and condemned Hastings to the bin. 14-0, and Glasgow cheeks were puffing. Even more so when Prendergast’s break from his own half and clever chip into the Warriors 22′ caused an 80-yard scramble which eventually led to a Leinster five-metre scrum, as Gibson-Park bundled the beleaguered Rowe over his own line. The hosts’ third try was processional, with Gibson-Park flinging a bridge pass out to Lowe, who sauntered in. Prendergast’s conversion from the left-hand touchline sailed across the posts, narrowly wide. But Leinster led 19-0 on 25 minutes. Glasgow’s man disadvantage was glaring as Tommy O’Brien hit them for a fourth on the half-hour. Off first phase, Leinster created a fissure of space on the visitors’ 10-metre line. It was eventually Hugo Keenan who supplied O’Brien with a beautiful left-handed pass, with the right wing diving over and Prendergast again converting from that side for 26-0. Imagine, then, being a Glasgow player seeing Andrew Porter skip onto the field for Cian Healy, who in his own right had rolled back the years for 30 minutes. Hastings, meanwhile, returned from the bin to find the game over. Keenan made sure of that with a deserved score, the imperious Prendergast’s swivel and chip into Glasgow’s in-goal giving the Leinster fullback a tap-in. Prendergast added the extras once more from centre-right. Hugo Keenan scores Leinster's fifth try.Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO On 33 minutes, Leinster were averaging a point a minute and Glasgow had caught one solitary sight of the home 22′. Barrett ended Warriors’ second visit almost immediately, poaching the ball from Matt Fagerson before one of his fellow forwards could get within an ass’s roar of the breakdown. The All Black then stripped Tom Jordan in a tackle, and Glasgow’s third visit to the Leinster 22′ ended with a knock-on. To Warriors’ credit, they huffed and puffed for the last five minutes of the half but to Leinster’s credit, they got absolutely nowhere. Leinster picked up where they left off after the break — Jordie Barrett melting lads in tackles and Tommy O’Brien winning turnovers on the ground — before Garry Ringrose got on the scoresheet. His try, Leinster’s sixth, was not unlike the centre’s finish for Ireland against Australia in the same ground in November 2016, a step off his left foot and curving break through the 22′. On this occasion, however, Ringrose had to shrug off multiple Glasgow tacklers to reach the line. Prendergast’s extras moved Leinster’s lead out to 40. Garry Ringrose scores Leinster's sixth try.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Glasgow then saw their most sustained period of period of pressure thwarted by — guess who — Jordie Barrett, and Leinster were 47-0 up moments later. We had long since strayed into ‘getting in on the act’ territory, with Leinster’s six tries to that point all coming from different scorers (one of them a pen try). Replacement hooker Dan Sheehan dove over in the left-hand corner for an easy seventh, with Prendergast on target again from the tee. That was to be the out-half’s final act in a wonderful individual performance, Ross Byrne joining the queue off Leinster’s bench to inflict further misery on the Scots. Of the more significant substitute appearances, Robbie Henshaw was already on for his 100th cap while Diarmuid Mangan followed Byrne onto the field for his Champions Cup debut. The wholsesale changes and a nasty-looking injury to Matt Fagerson’s left leg combined to pause Leinster’s march, the Glasgow eight carted off to warm applause on 66 minutes. After 10 more fairly broken minutes, Max Deegan became the first Leinster player on the night to double his try tally, collecting a gorgeously nonchalant crossfield chip by Byrne to bag his second and his side’s eighth. Byrne was off the mark with his conversion from the left. The game fizzed to full-time with one last picturesque Leinster attack breaking down in the Glasgow 22′. As the full-time whistle sounded, Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber’s side had another clean sheet and 52 points to spare over their Scottish opponents. Whether you’re Northampton Saints or Castres: watch out. Scorers for Leinster: Tries: Max Deegan (2), penalty try, James Lowe, Tommy O’Brien, Hugo Keenan, Garry Ringrose, Dan Sheehan Cons: Sam Prendergast (5/6), Ross Byrne (0/1) Scorers for Glasgow Warriors: LEINSTER: 15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Tommy O’Brien, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Jordie Barrett, 11. James Lowe, 10. Sam Prendergast, 9. Jamison Gibson-Park, 1. Cian Healy, 2. Ronan Kelleher, 3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Joe McCarthy, 5. RG Snyman, 6. Max Deegan, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Jack Conan (c) Replacements: Replacements: 16. Dan Sheehan, 17. Andrew Porter, 18. Rabah Slimani, 19. Diarmuid Mangan, 20. Caelan Doris, 21. Luke McGrath, 22. Ross Byrne, 23. Robbie Henshaw GLASGOW WARRIORS: 15. Kyle Rowe, 14. Jamie Dobie, 13. Stafford McDowall, 12. Tom Jordan, 11. Kyle Steyn (c), 10. Adam Hastings, 9. George Horne, 1. Nathan McBeth, 2. Johnny Matthews, 3. Sam Talakai, 4. Gregor Brown, 5. Alex Samuel, 6. Matt Fagerson, 7. Rory Darge, 8. Sione Vailanu Replacements: 16. Grant Stewart, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. Patrick Schickerling, 19. JP du Preez, 20. Max Williamson, 21. Euan Ferrie, 22. Ben Afshar, 23. Sebastian Cancelliere Referee: Luke Pearce Gavan Casey View 9 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Imperious Leinster obliterate Glasgow to reach Champions Cup semi-finals”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Imperious Leinster obliterate Glasgow to reach Champions Cup semi-finals”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. 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