Leinster maintained their unbeaten record to secure a top seed quarter-final spot in the Champions Cup, following a 23-14 victory over Montpellier.
After relinquishing an early lead to the hosts before the half-time break, Leinster reclaimed the advantage in the second half through tries from Seán Cronin and Robbie Henshaw as well as a conversion and penalty from the boot of Ross Byrne.
A try and a penalty from Byrne gave Leinster the early initiative in the first half, but the hosts quickly recovered to cross over the whitewash twice through Bismarck Du Plessis Yacouba Camara, putting them 14-8 in front at the half-time whistle.
Leinster needed a strong second half-start and Henshaw's try on 45 minutes provided the platform for them to work their way back into contention. They capitalised on that momentum less than six minutes later, and put Seán Cronin over the try-line.
Leo Cullen's side were without the services of Johnny Sexton, who was rested for the tie. But it was Leinster who had the stronger start, and they posted the opening score of the game inside the first five minutes. Some effective forward play from James Lowe enabled Jamison Gibson-Park to feed the ball out to Byrne, who dashed across the try-line.
Byrne failed to nail the conversion, but redeemed himself with a penalty after 19 minutes to edge his side into a 0-8 advantage.
But Montpellier managed to shake off those early concessions with a try four minutes later, with Bismarck Du Plessis reaching across to score a try on the back of a maul after out-half Aaron Cruden kicked for the corner. Cruden added the extras to bring them back to within a point of the visiting side.
The French side punished Leinster again from the line-out in the closing minutes of the first half. This time Louis Picamoles emerged from the driving maul to offload possession to the oncoming Yacouba Camara, and he crossed over the whitewash to take the lead. Cruden's conversion extended their advantage before half-time.
Leinster were chasing a 14-8 margin after the restart, but after some patient play, they worked the ball out to Robbie Henshaw, who side-stepped a tackle before rushing over for the try. The conversion was from a difficult angle, and Byrne missed the kick again as he dragged the shot just wide of the post.
He scored his second penalty of the afternoon moments later following some good work from Josh can der Flier and James Ryan to cushion Leinster's lead.
Seán Cronin then snatched the decisive score on 51 minutes. From a similar position which delivered Montpellier's first-half tries, Leinster worked worked themselves into a maul from the line-out.
They kept the ball at the back while creeping towards the try-line, before unleashing Cronin who crouched over for the score. Byrne slotted the conversion between the posts from close range to put his side leading 14-23 at a crucial stage of the game.
Your full-time stats from #MONvLEI! Our first win in France since October 2014. pic.twitter.com/nyzrH5XPAP
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) January 20, 2018
Montpellier were drifting out of the contest, and despite trying to exploit Leinster from the line-out route late in the game, the Irish side had learned from their earlier mistakes and held firm. They conceded a penalty in the process, but restricted Montpellier to zero scores in the second half.
The result sees Leinster progress to the quarter-finals as top seeds with six wins from six in the group stages. They will now face the final team to sneak into the final qualification places, with so much still to be decided in the final round of pool matches.
