Ace O’Driscoll reaches new heights as Lions roar to victory

SOMETHING of a curate’s egg this. Those of an optimistic bent will look to the rematch in Agen next Saturday buoyed by four tries, a gritty defensive display and a bonus point picked up with impeccable timing at the death by a sublime Brian O’Driscoll.

Fans of a more pessimistic nature will point to an overrun scrum and a place-kicking problem that could haunt them if the game in the Stade Armandie proves to be a nip-and-tuck affair.

While the game provided snatches of the good and the bad from Leinster, it also threw up — literally — a glimpse of the ugly when O’Driscoll’s dinner made an unscheduled reappearance on the Lansdowne Road turf midway through the first half.

Under the weather all week, the Leinster captain had just ran three-quarters the length of the pitch to score an intercept try when his body finally cried “enough”. Unburdened thereafter, O’Driscoll went on to complete a hat-trick of touchdowns that proved the difference.

“Brian’s own contributions were things that only he seems able to do,” said coach Michael Cheika. “I won’t (talk) him up too much because everyone else does that but he’s a great competitor. That’s probably what, of all the skills and bits and pieces, I like most about him.”

That knack of scoring tries rescued Leinster from their pool last year when six bonus points offset the loss of two of their six games; qualification may again be achieved in similar circumstances this season.

“It’s important definitely,” admitted Cheika. “We’ve got equal wins but we’re still two points ahead of them. The more points you can eke out the better. It’s a challenge this tournament. It’s a great tournament. You have to scrap for every try, every point.

“Leicester will have been disappointed they didn’t get the bonus point (Friday) night. We’re delighted we got the bonus point here but you’ve also got to keep the opposition to zero and we did that. Getting the fifth for ourselves was, literally, the bonus.”

Next week’s return fixture is not a must-win for the Irish province, according to their coach, but the reality is that they have to depart from France or Gloucester in January with a win tucked under their belts after the careless defeat in Murrayfield to Edinburgh.

With Felipe Contepomi and Will Green due to be back in harness after the festive season, Kingsholm, for all its fearsome reputation, may well be a more achievable mission after last Saturday’s performance.

Not that it was anything vintage from Leinster. War, they say, consists of long periods of abject boredom interrupted by brief moments of feverish excitement. This was something similar.

A stop-start affair from first whistle to last, both sides did at least manage to weave some sumptuous patterns of running rugby but Leinster’s four tries to Agen’s one was an accurate reflection of the ball handling skills displayed by each side on the night.

Up front it was a different story, where the French destroyed their opposite numbers in the scrum. The sight of the Leinster pack wheeling faster than Lance Armstrong will be all the encouragement Agen need in the days to come.

“There’s no doubt we had problems but we knew we were going to have problems,” Cheika admitted.

“They have a big, big pack. They just dwarfed us. It’s not going to improve miraculously in the next week. We’ve got to patch it up and use a bit more strategy now we’ve played them and understand a bit more their techniques.”

Cheika defended new prop Stan Wright, despite calling him ashore at the break, pointing to a significant contribution in the loose and adding that the entire Leinster front row was in trouble, not just their tight-head.

That Leinster could still score four tries and win with 16 points to spare despite such a fundamental flaw says something about their abilities in other areas but they still missed their Argentinian orchestrator Contepomi.

Maybe it was his lack of game time but Christian Warner never put his stamp on proceedings like the Puma can. The fact he doesn’t offer a place-kicking option doesn’t do his candidacy any favours either.

Leinster ended the night two for six in front of the sticks with Gordon D’Arcy replacing Girvan Dempsey who saw all three of his efforts miss the uprights on the wrong side.

“I wouldn’t say I’m worried,” said Cheika. “You just have to get better and kick more. You can’t worry. If we decide to include a first-rate kicker like Andy (Dunne) there next week, we may do that. We just have to decide what the remedy is. It’s not an optimum situation. Ideally, I’d love to have Contepomi in there kicking them from everywhere. I don’t have him so we’ve got to work in another environment. Simple as that.”

LEINSTER: G Dempsey, S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, D Hickie, C Warner, C Whitaker; R McCormack, B Blaney, S Wright, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.

Replacements: R Corrigan for Wright (40 mins), C Jowitt for Keogh (68), G Easterby for Whitaker (68), L Fitzgerald for Hickie (71), O Finnegan for Jowitt (73), K Lewis for O’Driscoll (87).

AGEN: P Elhorga, M Ahotaeiloa, C Stolz, S Mirande, R Caucaunibuca, J Miquel, N Morlaes; E Guinazu, A Tiatia, K Meeuws, W Stoltz, S Socol, M Lievremont, L Ostiglia, O Fonua.

Replacements: A Badenhorst for Socol (46), F Culine for Ostaglia (51), L Lafforgue for C Stolz (61), L Cabarry for Guinazu (61), A Galasso for Fonoa (82).

Referee: W Barnes (RFU).