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Leinster stung by record Wasps hammering

Leinster lost five from six in Pool 5
Leinster lost five from six in Pool 5

Wasps 51-10 Leinster

Leinster signed off on a miserable Champions Cup campaign with a record 51-10 loss away to Wasps. 

There was more bad news for the province, and Ireland, as they lost captain Johnny Sexton to a clash of heads in the first five minutes.

Joe Schmidt will now wait for news on the out-half ahead of the Six Nations opener on 7 February against Wales. 

Leinster's defeat was their fifth is six Pool 5 games. 

Head coach Leo Cullen said: "[We] lost our way very quickly start of the second half. That's hugely disappointing. Credit to Wasps. Ruthless."

The three-time winners of the northern hemisphere's richest prize in club rugby, leaked seven tries at the Ricoh Arena as their dismal campaign concluded with them adrift at the bottom of the group.

Sexton was receiving treatment after being dazed and as the game continued around him, he rose to his feet and made another tackle.

Once play stopped, Leinster's medic returned and the fly-half was helped from the pitch.


It is a worrying development as the 30-year-old, who had been named captain for the first time in his 100th start, was stood down for three months until last February after sustaining four concussions in a year.

Wasps did not escape unscathed either as scrum-half Joe Simpson was carried from the pitch in the seventh minute, but England will have welcomed the return of James Haskell and Joe Launchbury from a shoulder injury and concussion respectively.

There was little sign of the carnage to come as Leinster crossed in the right corner after only two minutes, Luke Fitzgerald and Dave Kearney making the initial inroads before rapid hands sent Zane Kirchner over.

Sexton was wide with the conversion and once he had departed for a head injury assessment that ended his afternoon, Wasps sprang into life by pounding at the whitewash before Jimmy Gopperth darted through without needing a large overlap.

The Premiership club worked a short blindside to good effect for their second, George Smith and Dan Robson involved after breaking from a scrum with Launchbury taking the final pass.

An acrobatic inside pass by Kearney allowed Eoin Reddan to sneak in, but the three-times European champions slipped 15-10 behind on the stroke of half-time when Gopperth landed a penalty.

Gopperth kicked another three points and by the 47th minute Wasps were out of sight when Daly switched on the afterburners to race home from 40 metres out for a score that will have delighted England coach Jones.

Leinster were splintering and after waves of attacks their defence cracked for a fifth time with super hands from Daly sending wing Frank Halai over.

When full-back Charles Piutau displayed his pace to touch down with 10 minutes remaining the ordeal looked over for the visitors, but Ashley Johnson stepped off the bench to inflict one final indignity

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