Leinster defeated Brive 36-13 in an excellent display in Saturday afternoon’s Heineken Cup Pool 6 encounter in the Stade Municipal, Brive…Brian O’Driscoll Post Match Reaction…

Speaking after the game, Heineken Man of the Match Brian O’Driscoll said: “We’re pleased that we have won, but at the same time we feel that we could have picked up a bonus point. 

“It’s never easy coming to France and Brive are a good side, so to come here and get four points is pleasing. We know from experience how difficult a competition this is to win and having lost the opening round we were under a bit of pressure, so it was good to get off the mark.” 

Andy Goode kicked his side into an early lead, but Jonathan Sexton replied with the first points of an impressive 19 points tally after nine minutes. A terrific move involving Sexton and O’Driscoll, with Luke Fitzgerald tying up two men, sent Rob Kearney hurtling through on an angled run and he evaded Vincent Forgues’ grasp to score the game’s first try on the 15 minute mark.

Sexton added the points and further penalties on 24, 34 and 39 minutes, with a second Goode effort sandwiching his last two efforts, to push Leinster into a 19-6 half time lead.

Sexton kicked a 42nd minute penalty and Leinster held a commanding lead before a Gerhard Vosloo try gave the hosts some hope. But credit to Leinster who replied virtually from the kick off through sub Kevin McLaughlin after a superb Isa Nacewa burst found the young wing forward who crossed over.

CJ van der Linde ended his injury nightmare when he replaced the influential Mike Ross on the hour mark and the South African almost crossed himself but he was adjudged to have taken a forward pass.

McLaughlin added his side’s third try in the last minute, with sub Shaun Berne converting, but it was too late for Leinster to secure the extra bonus point. Nonetheless, it was an encouraging performance from the reigning champions against a strong French side and sets Pool 6 up well ahead of the back-to-back games against the Scarlets in December.

BRIVE SCORERS: G. Vosloo (1 try), A. Goode (2 penalties, 1 conversion)

LEINSTER SCORERS: K. McLaughlin (2 tries), R. Kearney (1 try), J. Sexton (5 penalties, 2 conversions), S. Berne (1 conversion)

BRIVE: F Estebanez CAPTAIN, A Palisson, J Noon, L Mackay, V Waqaseduadua, A Goode, S Perry, D Kinchagishvili, S Thompson, P Barnard, C Short, D Browne, G Vosloo, V Forgues, A Claassen

REPLACEMENTS: J Bonrepaux, P Toderasc, R Uys, S Azoulai, J Pejoine, L Orquera, R Cooke, P Idieder

LEINSTER: 

15: Rob Kearney
14: Shane Horgan (Gordon D’Arcy, 72)
13: Brian O’Driscoll
12: Luke Fitzgerald
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Jonathan Sexton (Shaun Berne, 77)
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Cian Healy
2: Bernard Jackman (John Fogarty, 46)
3: Mike Ross (CJ van der Linde, 60)
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN (Kevin McLaughlin, 54) 
5: Malcolm O’Kelly
6: Nathan Hines (Devin Toner, 70)
7: Sean O’Brien
8: Jamie Heaslip 

REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: Ronan McCormack, Simon Keogh

REFEREE: James Jones (WRU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Hugh Watkins (WRU), Barrie Gregory (WRU), TMO: Huw Lewis (WRU)