Sexton’s boot clips Osprey ambitions

A WIN is a win, but neither players, supporters or coach were much pleased with Leinster’s performance in last night’s Magners league clash with old rivals the Ospreys at the RDS.

The considerable consolation for a haphazard performance was the four additional points they garnered to keep their challenge for tournament honours humming along nicely.

A weakened Ospreys team got just a losing bonus point and head coach Scott Johnson praised his charges for the effort, but in defeat he was clearly more satisfied than Leinster’s Joe Schmidt given the perceived strengths of the starting line ups.

“We showed great resolve playing against a quality side like that and taking them to the wire,” Johnson said.

And of a game that might have got away on the basis of two penalty misses late in the game, he insisted he would not blame out-half Dan Biggar for goal-kicking lapses: “I thought Dan played very well; we don’t do blame for missing kicks, especially when one of them was as a result of the ball falling off a kicking tee on his run up. I was proud of the way he played and proud of the way the guys played generally.”

He didn’t get much argument from Leinster’s Schmidt, who commented: “We were flat, we’ve got to get it better for next week. We put ourselves under pressure in some ways but we weren’t like we should have been in the contact area and that was almost like a pre-season game in some respects.

“They put it up to us and it is something we have to look at because undoubtedly we’re going to be a target for Saracens (in next week’s Heineken Cup round five); they will be just as physical or more than Ospreys were.”

Leinster hardly covered themselves in glory in the opening spell and they trailed twice in the first quarter.

Biggar kicked a penalty after two minutes for the visitors although Jonathan Sexton responded brilliantly with a couple of his own to give Leinster the advantage by the tenth minute.

That lead evaporated quickly when the Ospreys’ young captain Justin Tipuric took advantage of a chaotic scramble in the Leinster defence. Eoin Reddan’s attempted clearance was blocked down and Tipuric pounced to score at the posts, with Biggar converting for a 10-6 lead.

Biggar inexplicably missed a simple 28th-minute penalty from close range, much to the delight of the nervous Leinster faithful who could hardly believe the number of mistakes their stars had made in that opening sequence.

Sexton’s third penalty narrowed the gap to a point at the break, and given the run of play, it wasn’t a bad situation for Leinster.

The otherwise lively Shane Horgan conceded a penalty early in the second half for holding on to possession on the ground, but Biggar’s kick came back off an upright.

The Ospreys paid for that lapse because Sexton was bang on kicking form. He was presented with another goal-kicking chance in the 47th minute when the visitors were fortunate not to lose a player to the sin bin for interference in a ruck, and the out-half nailed his effort to secure a 12-10 lead for his side.

Biggar then wasted a golden opportunity when he sent another penalty to the right and wide almost straight from the kick-off.

Leinster nearly got in for a try when Jamie Heaslip’s brilliant break off the back of a scrum created a difficult chance for Reddan. Instead, Leinster got called back for a penalty award far out that proved just beyond Sexton’s capabilities; yet in the blink of an eye Leinster had another, and Sexton sent his shot straight and true to secure a 15-10 advantage.

Biggar didn’t help his side when he missed a 63rd-minute strike but referee Nigel Owens pinged Leinster immediately for offside from Reddan’s attempted clearance. From the right-hand touch line, Biggar failed yet again and Leinster breathed a sigh of relief.

Scorers for Leinster: J Sexton 5 pens.

Scorers for Ospreys: J Tipuric try; D Biggar con, pen.

LEINSTER: L. Fitzgerald; S. Horgan, B. O’Driscoll, G. D’Arcy, F. McFadden; J. Sexton, E. Reddan; C. Healy, R. Strauss, M. Ross; L. Cullen (captain), D. Toner; D. Ryan, J. Heaslip, S. Jennings.

Replacements: H. van der Merwe for Healy (40), N. Hines for Cullen (56), R. Ruddock for Heaslip (62), I. Boss for Reddan (67).

OSPREYS: B. Davies; N. Walker, S. Parker, A. Beck, R. Fussell; D. Biggar, R. Webb; D.

.Jones, H. Bennett, C. Mitchell; I. Gough, I. Evans; T. Smith, R. Jones, J.Tipuric (captain).

Replacements: C. Griffiths for Mitchell (58), J. Nutbrown for Webb, M. Davies for Bennett (both 63), J. Thomas for Smith, J. Goode for Evans (both 70)

Referee: N Owens (Wales).