Trying time as champions fail to turn the screw

HAD Leinster somehow contrived to lose this one then they need blame nobody but themselves.

Poor decision-making in key scoring positions cost them at least three tries and how they managed to finish without a single five-pointer will be something Joe Schmidt will have to address during the week.

Sean O’Brien in particular will have reason to apologise to his team-mates for his failure to deliver a scoring pass with a three-man overlap queuing up on his outside.

While Leinster will look at themselves first and foremost, Schmidt has every reason to feel frustrated with the reluctance of French referee Jerome Garces to produce a single yellow card until the 75th minute. While the recipient, South African flanker Francois Louw, should have been binned at least five minutes earlier, how Garces failed to banish either Stephen Donald or David Attwood for blatant professional fouls yards from their try line when Leinster looked certain to score is a mystery to me.

Garces is one of a number of referees who have completely forgotten that one of the main reasons the yellow card was introduced was to punish blatant professional fouls.

Leinster are now paying for their success in Europe over the last few seasons, with sides lifting their performance levels simply because the European champions have rolled into town.

It happened in Montpellier in the opening round when they were fortunate to emerge with a draw and repeated itself at The Rec yesterday where Bath played at a far higher level than anything they have produced in the Premiership to date.

Leinster, however, had the composure and experience to ride the storm and will no doubt be far better for this experience when Bath travel to Dublin for the second leg of these back-to-back fixtures.

With their forwards struggling to exert any semblance of dominance up front, it came down to Jonny Sexton to convert pressure into points with the boot and to his physicality and commitment in defence to rescue what could so easily have been a very costly defeat on the road. With a greater appreciation of what Bath have to offer, you now feel Leinster will be primed to complete the job in a far more convincing manner at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday.