Welsh get away with one again

This was supposed to be about the return of Brian O’Driscoll and Leo Cullen from injury.

It was supposed to be a night to celebrate Brad Thorn’s arrival and one topped off with the cherry of yet another Leinster win.

It was all going according to plan for 77 minutes but the script was sullied by a controversial ending which saw Ospreys awarded a debatable try and an equally questionable conversion that propelled referee Peter Fitzgibbon and TMO Alan Rogan into the spotlight.

A Welsh side coming from behind to secure a hotly-debated late win in Dublin? Two officials thrust into the spotlight’s glare? Irish players and coaches left biting their tongues? Hmm, now where have we seen that before?

Leinster led 19-6 at one point and were still 22-16 to the good when the visitors worked the ball right to prop Richard Hibbard, who lumbered over the line. It looked as though Isaac Boss and Leo Cullen held him up but the TMO thought differently.

That left Dan Biggar with a tough conversion from the touchline and the out-half’s kick bounced off the top of the post before flopping over. Did it drop inside the post? The touch judges thought so and raised their flags accordingly.

There was no recourse to the TMO second time around and Leinster’s sense of injustice was only heightened by a decision from the video ref 19 minutes earlier not to award a five-pointer when Heinke van der Merwe went over under the Ospreys posts.

“We’re massively disappointed about the try decisions,” admitted coach Joe Schmidt. “It looked like Heinke had scored and we had guys who were pretty adamant that they didn’t get it down but those are the margins.”

Before Leinster knew it, the game was over and Ospreys players were skipping around the turf like kids on summer recess after a win that brought Leinster’s 20-game undefeated run to an end.

It was a dramatic end to a game that started slowly and, though Leinster had to use loosehead prop Jack McGrath at tighthead for the last 20 minutes after the losses of Nathan White and Jamie Hagan, Ospreys overcame the sin-binning of Justin Tipuric 62 minutes in.

It was a head-spinning concoction of events to process after what had been a turgid opening half-hour blighted by a plethora of dropped balls and few breaks.

Such rustiness was understandable given the three-week gap since these clubs had last seen action and blowing off the cobwebs is always more difficult this time of year, when returning internationals are being re-assimilated into the collective.

It was Alun Wyn Jones, one of five Grand Slammers pressed into service despite Warren Gatland’s plea during the week not to overwork his Six Nations heroes, who started the rot with a spilled pass on the edge of his own 22 after just as many seconds.

O’Driscoll, Cullen and Thorn had all done something similar by the 11th minute and the respective kickers added a few missed pots on goal to the rap sheet before the game warmed up.

Fittingly enough, it was a mistake that provided the first spark, with Richardt Strauss’s overthrown lineout bouncing perfectly for the alert Ian Madigan to pick up and shimmy his way through to touch down.

Fergus McFadden’s conversion left it 16-3 to the hosts before Biggar’s second penalty reduced the arrears by three just four minutes before the interval.

It wasn’t long before the second period kicked into gear but it was the visitors who got things going, when Luke Fitzgerald’s loose chip kick was worked right through a succession of hands before number eight George Stowers went over.

Biggar’s conversion left Leinster clinging to a 19-16 lead, which was buttressed by the last of McFadden’s five penalties after van der Merwe’s close-range drive was rejectd by the officials.

Tipuric’s yellow followed soon after but the drama was only getting started.

Scorers for Leinster: Try: I Madigan. Con: McFadden. Pens: McFadden (5).

Scorers for Ospreys:Tries: R Hibbard, G Stowers. Cons: D Biggar. Pens: D Biggar (3).

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; D Kearney, B O’Driscoll, F McFadden, L Fitzgerald; I Madigan, I Boss; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, N White; L Cullen, B Thorn; R Ruddock, D Ryan, L Auva’a. Replacements: J Hagan for White (30); D Browne for Thorn (55); K McLaughlin for Auva’a (55); E O’Malley for O’Driscoll (58); S Cronin for Strauss (59); J McGrath for Hagan (59); F Carr for Kearney (67).

OSPREYS: R Fussell; W Dirksen, A Bishop, A Beck, E Walker; D Biggar, K Fotualii; P James, R Hibbard, A Jarvis; R Jones, AW Jones; T Smith, J Tipuric, G Stowers. Replacements: A Jones for Jarvis (58); J King for Stowers (59); R Webb for Fotualii (63); R Bevington for James (68); I Evans for R Jones (73).

Referee: P Fitzgibbon (IRFU).

Last night’s other results: Edinburgh 15 Dragons 29, Glasgow 29 Aironi 6.