Jennings keeps eye on the ball

LEINSTER skipper Shane Jennings was thrilled with this Magners League win and his Man-of-the-Match award, but he wasn’t fooled by the flattering scoreline at the RDS on Saturday night.

Jennings admitted Connacht might have been hard done by: “It wasn’t a fair reflection of the game, really,” he admitted, insisting there was hard work to be done before taking on the Ospreys next week and then in the remaining rounds of the Heineken Cup.

Leinster’s coach Joe Schmidt was pleased but generally at one with his captain, noting: “I thought we grew into the game but it took a long time. The first 20 minutes wasn’t great when Connacht put it up to us; I think we had possession twice and coughed that up, otherwise the ball was in their hands most of the time. It was pretty frustrating, that first 20 minutes, likewise for the supporters. I hope they felt they got value for money in the last 60.”

Although Leinster were essentially in control early in the second-half, it wasn’t until midway through that they put some daylight between the sides.

However, coach Eric Elwood will be concerned at the lack of thrust shown by his back division during their spell of superiority early in the game. He admitted: “We had plenty of possession but unfortunately we ran too laterally and didn’t make any big territory gains. I suppose a simple explanation is that they took their chances and we didn’t. It was disappointing from that point of view,” he said.

However, once Leinster came to grips with the challenge, they did look good, and a midfield partnership of Fergus McFadden and Eoin O’Malley once again looked threatening. Schmidt is in the happy position of knowing that both could do a decent job at a higher level should the need arise to replace Gordon D’Arcy or Brian O’Driscoll.

“Fergus, for instance, is working really hard, his passing game and his vision appear to be coming on, he sees people in space and has the ability to put them away a lot more often; he tucks and goes a lot less although when he does that, defenders have to get a good hold on him because he very much takes the first tackle.”

Overall, the coach was pleased: “Yeah, they did pretty well, but I thought the back line as a unit did especially well; they created the try scoring chances and took them well. Overall, it was positive enough. It’s great to see the young guys, the 21-year-olds, getting over the line for scores.”

Schmidt highlighted the difficulties in finding a blend from week to week when there are restrictions on his use of the international members of the squad.

“There were changes from the Clermont game to the Ulster game and again for this one, but there is a confidence in the squad now in that players (all) know what they are doing and what is required of them, particularly in defence, and you get confidence from results and performances.

The New Zealander insisted that there was no pressure on his team to produce a bonus point victory but welcomed it. “It’s not something we set out to try and get; if it happens it happens and certainly our only concern was to try to beat Connacht.

“Ultimately we got the scores and I suppose a disappointment from our point of view was conceding that late try. Having said that, I suppose Connacht, based on their performance over the first 20, deserved something from the game and they got it in the form of a very well created and executed try.”

That try came in the dying seconds courtesy of winger Eoin Griffin but only at the end of tremendous work from substitutes Dermot Murphy and Dylan Rogers after Connacht opened up from inside their own ‘22. Unlike their first quarter efforts, it proved they do have the type of scoring power which coach Elwood craves.

By then, of course, their response was futile as Leinster had the points well and truly wrapped up and the win helped push them up the table.

Schmidt added: “I think the players are working really hard and putting pressure on each other which is a good thing. It was great as well to have Kevin (McLaughlin) back; it wasn’t in the plan for him to play the full game but he answered the call when Sean (O’Brien) had to go off. He was pretty good for 60 minutes, suffered from a little oxygen debt after that but kept going to the end to be fair to him,” said Schmidt.

McLaughlin may have done his job alongside an industrious Jennings, but it was youngster David Kearney who showed the way with a brace of tries to keep Connacht on the back foot after Ian Keatley opened the scoring with a long range second minute penalty.

Kearney got his first in the 23rd minute, Isa Nacewa struck for two penalties on either side of the break and then converted Kearney’s second try after 58 minutes. As Connacht ran out of steam, McFadden and substitute Niall Morris grabbed the third and fourth tries, one of which the centre converted for a 30-3 lead before Connacht’s late consolation try.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa, A Conway, E O’Malley, F McFadden, D Kearney, S Berne, P O’Donohue, H Van der Merwe, R Strauss, C Newland, N Hines, D Toner, K McLaughlin, S O’Brien, S Jennings (captain).

Replacements: M Ross for Newland, S Keogh for O’Brien (both 40), E Reddan for O’Donohue (50), E O’Donoghue for Hines (57), N Morris for Nacewa (64), I Madigan for Kearney (73), T Sexton for Strauss (74).

CONNACHT: T Nathan, E Griffin, I Keatley, K Matthews (captain), B Tuohy, M Nikora, C Willis, B Wilkinson, A Flavin, J Hagan, M Swift, M McCarthy, A Browne, E McKeon, J O’Connor.

Replacements: R Ah You for Hagan (50), F Murphy for Willis, F Carr for Tuohy (both 58), B Upton for Swift, N Ta’auso for Nikora (both 63), D Murphy for Flavin, D Rogers for Wilkinston (both 77).

Referee: J Lacey (IRFU).