Leinster 32-17 Wasps: Leinster through to semi-final after visitors' sloppy start

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Highlights of Leinster's Champions Cup quarter-final win over Wasps

Leinster punished a poor start from Wasps to claim a 32-17 win in Dublin and progress to the Champions Cup semi-finals.

The hosts started in ominous fashion, with Johnny Sexton slotting a penalty before Isa Nacewa crossed for the first try of the game in the 15th minute after taking a superb pass from Joey Carbery.

Nacewa's try was unconverted, and things appeared to get worse for the home side when Willie le Roux crossed the whitewash near the half-hour mark, but replays showed the South Africa international had knocked on when dotting down.

Leinster then capitalised on the lifeline with tries from No 8 Jack Conan and Robbie Henshaw, which handed them a 22-3 half-time lead.

Isa Nacewa scored the first try of the game at the Aviva Stadium

Sexton added another three points to the lead from the tee after the break, before Christian Wade chased down a kick for Wasps' first try of the game to make it 25-10 after 54 minutes.

When Jimmy Gopperth's converted individual effort brought Wasps within eight points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, it looked as though the Dublin faithful were in for a tense finish, but Fergus McFadden put the result beyond question with a try five minutes from time to hand Leinster a spot in the final four.

Man of the match

Turning point

In the 24th minute, Kurtley Beale ran a brilliant line to tear the Leinster defence to shreds, drawing the final defender before releasing Willie le Roux for a score that would have made it a one-point game after a regulation conversion.

Le Roux dived over and celebrated the try but a chasing Johnny Sexton immediately appealed to Nigel Owens that the winger had knocked the ball on - and replays confirmed Sexton's suspicions.

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Willie Le Roux made the schoolboy error of dropping the ball over the try line in Wasps Champions Cup clash with Leinster

The Springbok had inexplicably dropped the ball in the act of scoring; Owens awarded Leinster a scrum from which they won a penalty and cleared their lines.

Leinster were next to cross the whitewash, stretching to an advantage from which Wasps were unable to recover.

The good

Leinster's victory was driven by the young starts; Joey Carbery and Garry Ringrose were in particularly good form, while Tadhg Furlong was rock-solid in the scrum. Rugby in Leinster is in good health, and the future looks even more promising.

Joey Carbery was a nuisance with the ball at the Aviva Stadium

The bad

If Danny Cipriani was hoping to use the Champions Cup as the big stage on which to announce his credentials, he appeared to have forgotten his script. Wasps were chasing the game from early on, and that pressure took its toll on Cipriani in the form of loose passing and poor tackling. The 29-year-old is an undoubted talent, but did not have a good game in Dublin.

Tweet of the match

Stat of the match

200: Number of metres made by Joey Carbery from 25 carries.

Reaction

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young: "Willie, obviously, it's going to be well documented... If he had put that ball down, we could have been 10-8 up. We would have been pretty pleased with that, because we were under pressure."

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen: "Joey [Carbery] is very, very brave. He's not afraid to try things. We will have a look back at the game and go through it with him. He's hungry to learn and he wants to get better."