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Leinster delivered their biggest points scoring game of the season and their highest in Europe for nine years. In fact, in scoring seven tries they scored three more than they managed in the previous four rounds in their European Rugby Champions Cup pool. The seven tries were scored by seven different players, three of them subs. All in all, a magical night for the statisticians and record keepers.

That Matt O’Connor and his charges required a big effort was unquestionable. That a win was required was taken as a given, plus the bonus point as Leinster were not to know the outcome of the Harlequins v Wasps game. That Castres would only be a shadow of the team they were last season should not take away from this Leinster performance.

Dave Kearney Leinster v Castres 17th January 2015It was evident from the kick off that Leinster were in no mood for an easy night at the office. Winning a scrum against the head and shortly after, a huge lift in the lineout saw Devin Toner gather, drop to Reddan and on to Madigan who let David Kearney fly onto an inside pass that opened up the pitch. Kearney needed no second chance and sprinted to the right of the posts. This was the way the game unfolded and  Leinster played at a high tempo, never allowing Castres to settle into a game rhythm of their own.

Shortly after, Richie Gray the fan’s villain of the night, gave away a soft penalty and Ian Madigan made it 10 nil. Castres were fouling consistently and the referee yellow carded Diarra and from the resulting penalty, one of Lansdowne’s representatives, Martin Moore, crashed over for his first ever European try.

Eoin Reddan Lesinter v Castres January 17th 2015Shortly after, Jordi Murphy offloaded to Reddan who spectacularly launched himself at the try line to score his 3rd ERC try.

In the next try scoring move for Leinster, Jordi Murphy offloaded to Eoin Reddan, allowing the scrum half to barge his way through two tackles for the try line. Sean Cronin was not to be outdone and he too got his name on the score sheet, scoring a great try on the stroke of half time, to a huge cheer from the 18,000 plus in attendance. Madigan converted and the scoreboard showed Leinster with an unassailable lead of 31-3.

Darragh Fanning Lesinter v Castres 17th January 2015

Interestingly, on 50 minutes, Tadgh Furlong replaced Martin Moore and he too scored a maiden European try. Shortly after, Darragh Fanning came off the bench and before he could catch his breath bagged his third try in this season’s tournament.

Leinster then took their eye off the ball and allowed Castres a consolation try. Another sub, Luke McGrath, also scored his maiden European try and made it seven tries on the night for Leinster.

Mascots at Leinster v Castres - European Rugby Champions Cup 2014/15 Pool 2 Round 5It was a truly magical night in the RDS and for the Leinster team, the opportunity to open up and play an expansive game of rugby. For Big Red Cloud, what more could we ask for, 7 tries leading to Leinster’s highest European win in nine years, first Euro tries for three of the team and incredible exposure for our brand to a massive audience.

Winning the Bank of Ireland Sponsor for a Day competition was indeed a dream come true. Most of the 18,500 in attendance in the RDS will long remember the Leinster v Castres game.

The 2016 Sponsor for a Day entry form is here.

 

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)

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