There was a lot to like about the way an inexperienced Leinster put six tries past Chile in the Bank of Ireland Friendly at sunny Energia Park on Friday afternoon.
Forwards Cormac Daly and Conall Boomer contributed handsomely to a performance that suffered from a slow start.
It was clear from the kick-off the World Cup qualifiers came to play fast and wide in an exciting brand of rugby activated by half-backs Nicolas Herrero and Diego Warnken.
Wing Gaspar Moltedo‘s burst up the left had Leinster in retreat and, when the home side failed to roll away at a ruck, Warnken slotted the opening points in the fourth minute.
It all made for an entertaining occasion as Leinster were also committed to spreading the play, their first bout of pressure forcing a penalty.
Captain Liam Turner agreed to go for the corner where Lee Barron’s throw was taken in by Brian Deeny and the forwards gathered around for Barron to claim the try in the 10th minute.
Ireland 7s star Andrew Smith’s footballing skills were to the fore in Leinster coming again, the wing following his kick with a dedicated chase.
A scrum penalty crunched out by the front row of Michael Milne, Barron and Thomas Clarkson yielded a penalty which was again turned toward the corner.
The same recipe was used as Barron’s darts, Deeny’s take and Barron’s gather was ruthlessly transitioned into a second try from the maul, Charlie Tector converting for 12-3 in the 16th minute.
Diego Escobar was prominent on the ball for the tourists only for Ben Brownlee to rip the ball away from the hooker.
This was the signal for Leinster to counter at speed, Cormac Foley tapping from a quick penalty to catch the Chileans flat-footed.
The athletic scrum-half had enough evasion, speed and fend to do it all from inside his own half for a spectacular individual effort for Tector to convert for 19-3 at the end of the first quarter.
The South Americans knew they couldn’t continue to leak points at this rate. Instead of going into their shell, they looked to carry the fight through Ignacio Silva, Inaki Gurruchaga, Escobar and Martin Sigren, their captain.
Once that had been absorbed, Leinster provided a hammer-blow. From a scrum on the right, fast hands put Smith one-on-one with the last defender for the fourth try, converted by Tector for 26-3 at the break.
A smart kick over the top by half-back Foley put Leinster in the right part of the pitch where the set-piece went to work again.
The Barron-Deeny axis at the lineout delivered another clean ball. Centre Brownlee’s short ball was taken at top speed by Liam Turner for the captain to streak away to the sticks, Tector adding two more on top.
It took a timely tackle by Smith on lock Javier Eissmann to keep Chile at bay as the visitors looked to strike back.
However, the clinical nature of Leinster’s play was just too much, replacement Nick McCarthy slipping through on the fringes to find Seán O’Brien steaming into the ball for the sixth, Tector converting, to bring up 40 points in the 51st minute.
From there, Chile could have completely folded given the amount of pressure they had to endure in the subsequent minutes.
In fact, they had enough about them to ask questions of a Leinster defence that was just too organised and disciplined all the way to the finish.
