Will bad Saturday lead to good Friday for Leinster?

MICHAEL CHEIKA hailed match-winner Jonathan Sexton but damned Leinster’s attitude as his side sneaked to a fortuitous Magners League win over Connacht at the RDS on Saturday.

Consequently, when the squad gathers today to start preparations for the Good Friday clash with arch-rivals Munster, there may be an added bark to the instructions and bite to the exchanges with Thomond Park in mind.

“It was a poor performance; players know, they know that we need to improve so, so much. We can either use it as a wake-up call or we can wallow in it. We’ll see how we are on Monday. We weren’t physical enough; they dominated the contact area and particularly (dominated) in defence.”

With little to offer by way of praise, Cheika was glad Sexton came on board so quickly after his Six Nations experience. On a day when Connacht’s replacement out half Ian Keatley failed to nail the win with two late drop goal attempts, Sexton came good after striking the crossbar with an 80th minute long-range penalty.

The out half was none too pleased when, after Connacht failed to properly clear their lines, his half back partner Eoin Reddan attempted a drop goal – and failed – on the run, so he was in no mood to be so generous to the visitors when he got into the pocket in the 85th minute and brilliantly struck for the winning score.

“That drop goal was four points worth of a boost, that’s what it was. We’re lucky. We showed character to get ourselves into position to do it but we’re lucky to have got the win. We had a couple of attempts at it; he (Sexton) was a bit unlucky when he hit the crossbar there, it was a nice kick.

“But I think that was nearly a snapshot of the game – because when he hit the crossbar, there wasn’t a blue jersey in sight. Everyone was looking at whether he was going to kick the goal or not (instead of looking to react),” said Cheika.

It was a hugely disappointing end for Connacht who gave more than they got throughout. The visitors will look back at those two Keatley misses and at Sean Cronin’s close call when he came to within inches of propelling his side to victory in the closing stages.

If Connacht didn’t enjoy the finish they certainly could hardly have had a better start as they scorched into a seven points lead courtesy of a try after 90 seconds from Fionn Carr.

The visitors won possession from broken play and Frank Murphy’s sublime pass released the winger; he had a lot of work to do but ran with conviction and pace to outstrip four Leinster defenders to score a try at the posts that Miah Nikora converted.

Leinster responded a few minutes later with a penalty from Sexton but a subsequent spell of pressure yielded nothing when Connacht turned over possession near their own line; indeed the visitors’ attacking intent yielded rich dividends when Nikora and Carr combined brilliantly before the winger raced in for his second try and the out half converted.

Leinster’s Rob Kearney was back to his best and responded to the Connacht challenge by powering through for a 30th minute try to keep his side in touch.

Sexton kicked penalties in the 44th and 71st minutes but Leinster were unable to take advantage of a strong breeze or the fact that Gavin Duffy spent ten minutes in the bin.

Leinster just about summoned up the energy to launch their late offensive. Few would have argued had Sexton’s penalty miss been the end of it; at that stage the fans appeared to have settled for an honourable draw. The only thing is, nobody told Sexton.

LEINSTER: R Kearney; G Dempsey, F McFadden, S Berne, I Nacewa; J Sexton, E Reddan; S Wright, J Fogarty, M Ross; L Cullen (capt), M O’Kelly; R Ruddock, S Keogh, S Jennings.

Replacements: CJ van der Linde for Ross (47), D Toner for O’Kelly, B Jackman for Fogarty (both 64), E O’Malley for Berne (73). Temporary: P Ryan for Keogh 30-34.

CONNACHT: G Duffy (capt); B Tuohy, A Wynne, K Matthews, F Carr; M Nikora, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris; M McCarthy, B Upton; M McComish, G Naoupu, J O’Connor.

Replacements: A Browne for Naoupu (31) T Nathan for Matthews (40), S Cronin for Flavin, J Hagan for Morris, M Swift for McComish (all 57), I Keatley for Nikora (66).

Referee: J Garces (France).