Misfiring Leinster scrape past wasteful Ospreys
With a glut of internationals on show on both sides, expectations were high ahead of this tie, but too many handling errors and wayward kicking contrived to dilute the evening’s entertainment for the crowd of 15,140.
The Welsh side travelled minus a raft of injured players, including Mike Phillips, Shane Williams and Gavin Henson. Sonny Parker, who injured a shoulder in training on Thursday, was also ruled out shortly before kick-off.
Ospreys had failed to gain a single away win last season, but had already done so twice before last night’s visit to Dublin, and they made life uncomfortable for their hosts from the off.
Most of the first half was dominated by the Welsh side, both in terms of possession and field position, so it was with some degree of surprise that they must have made their way to the dressing rooms at half-time one point adrift.
Sean Holley’s charges found themselves within inches of the Leinster line on at least three occasions in that opening period, but a combination of gritty defence and poor decision-making combined to thwart their ambitions.
Instead, they had to make do with a drop goal and penalty from out-half James Hook after 22 and 29 minutes respectively. The Welsh number ten missed one of each in that first 40 minutes as well, and six points was a poor return for so much work.
Leinster’s first contribution to the scoreboard owed itself to a move of pure magic but had at its origin a terrible garryowen from out-half Isa Nacewa, whose kicking all evening left much to be desired.
The Fijian-born back made amends on this occasion, chasing down and recycling out left and Luke Fitzgerald and Felipe Contepomi played switcheroo along the touchline before the young Dubliner touched down underneath the posts.
Contepomi landed the conversion, but the Ospreys threatened to regain the lead immediately after the restart, only for Hook’s clever chip and chase from broken play to be foiled by a covering Shane Horgan.
Leinster enjoyed the upper hand from there on in. Fitzgerald was denied his second try when he was bundled over the corner flag, while a Contepomi touchdown was called back by referee Nigel Owens after a quick lineout from the visitors.
That was far from the only decision Owens made on the night that was greeted by a chorus of boos. The penalty count would have made for interesting reading, but Leinster could in no way be absolved completely of the blame.
However, it was indiscipline from the Ospreys that led to the next score, with Contepomi kicking a penalty to make the score 10-6 after some illegal handling in the ruck.
It was a delicate enough advantage with 15 minutes to play, but Contepomi stretched it to seven with a drop-goal in the 71st minute, before Nacewa calmed any lingering nerves with two injury-time drop goals.
Even then there was time for Ospreys wing Nikki Walker to jink his way through a sleepwalking Leinster 15 to touch down in the left corner, and Hook secured the losing bonus point from the resultant conversion.
Sloppy stuff from the hosts, and Michael Cheika is sure to make them pay for that on the training ground in the coming week — especially with Munster due to visit the RDS next Sunday.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald; I Nacewa, C Whitaker; R McCormack, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen, D Toner; C Jowitt, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.
Replacements: M O’Kelly for Toner (49), S Jennings for O’Brien (49), C Healy for McCormack (69), R Kearney for Horgan (68), S Keogh for Jowitt (68), J Fogarty for Jackman (76).
OSPREYS: L Byrne; T Bowe, D Bishop, A Bishop, N Walker; J Hook, R Webb; D Jones, H Bennett, A Jones; AW Jones, I Evans; J Thomas, S Tandy, R Jones.
Replacements: P James for A Jones, F Tiatia for Tandy, R Wells for Webb (all 56), I Gough for AW Jones (62), A Jones for D Jones (63), E Shervington for Bennett (69), D Biggar for D Bishop (72).
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
