Schmidt allays O’Driscoll injury fears

Leinster 59 Cardiff 22

Ireland boss, Declan Kidney must have been concerned by the sight of his skipper grimacing in pain but Leinster coach, Joe Schmidt expects the centre to return to action quickly.

“He felt he could play on” said Schmidt afterwards. “He’s pretty uncomfortable now. There’s a bit of swelling around the ankle but it’s not badly puffed up. We think it is a sprain and he could be training during the week.

“He had a real edge to him even in the warm-up. He looked really sharp. He was frustrated with the last couple of games and I thought he was really good.”

Kevin McLaughlin and Cian Healy were also replaced having received heavy knocks but there are no concerns over their availability for the national set up.

In a way, it was a touch bittersweet for the hosts as they finally produced the type of flowing, inventive rugby that had eluded them in the two previous Heineken Cup weekends to trounce a woeful Cardiff unit.

Eight players contributed nine tries, while Jonny Sexton landed seven conversions to bring his tally of points in the league to beyond 500.

The downside for Schmidt’s men is the frustration that just as the unit was gelling at last, they must now deal with the severe disruption of losing their frontline players to the November internationals.

“I thought we showed better intensity than in the last couple of the weeks,” said captain, Leo Cullen. “The first 40 in particular was good. It was good to see the guys enjoying themselves.

“We’ve come up against some good teams in the last few weeks but I don’t think we’ve been firing on all cylinders. For whatever reason, it hasn’t clicked.

“We face a different challenge over the next few weeks as a lot of the team won’t be with us but we have a few guys coming back from injuries and that all adds to the mix.

“It’s the nature of our system. You can see it with the French teams, the cohesion of their play because they are with each other longer. It’s hard to build momentum. We’ve had to deal with it the last few years.”

It is fair to say that the 37-point margin wasn’t a fair reflection of proceedings. Leinster were much more superior.

They had the bonus point sealed after 26 minutes, and were unrelenting in punishing Cardiff’s puny resistance, racking up six tries by half time, at which stage they led 40-3. That gap was soon 44 points as Murphy went over but only the most heartless of bullies enjoys pummelling a victim that isn’t fighting back and it was inevitable that the intensity would drop, particularly with so many changes.

Cardiff profited from the disjointed nature of proceedings and tries from Tom James, Leigh Halfpenny and Alex Cuthbert gave them an opportunity of bagging an unlikely bonus point themselves.

A crunching Sean Cronin tackle ended their momentum in shuddering fashion, and from the resultant penalty, Leinster worked it upfield again for Fionn Carr to finish fabulously after running onto a perfectly-flighted Sexton chip. The paucity of the opposition must have been a source of embarrassment to the travelling supporters though.

It was certainly an indictment on a side that included five Lions contenders in Cuthbert, Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Bradley Davies and Sam Warburton, who is being talked about as a potential captain, that Cullen admitted to the Blues being “pretty soft in the tackle”. You hate to detract from Leinster’s excellence but Cardiff were like an ant standing in front of a bulldozer, unable or unwilling to deal with Leinster’s wonderful invention and imagination behind an utterly dominant set-piece. Richardt Strauss celebrated his first international call-up by getting the rout under way, before Ian Madigan, Heaslip and David Kearney secured the extra point.

Cardiff prop, Scott Andrews was sin-binned and Leinster turned the screw, with Heaslip dotting down at the back of a 5m scrum, and Healy running right over Lloyd Williams and Cuthbert. That latter score was symptomatic of both sides’ efforts.

Scorers for Leinster: J Sexton 7 cons; J Heaslip 2 tries; R Strauss, I Madigan, D Kearney, C Healy, J Murphy, D Browne, F Carr 1 try each.

Scorers for Cardiff: L Halfpenny try, pen, 2 con; A Cuthbert, T James 1 try each.

LEINSTER: I Madigan; D Kearney, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, F McFadden; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross; L Cullen, D Toner; K McLaughlin, J Murphy, J Heaslip.

Replacements: B Macken for O’Driscoll (23), D Browne for Cullen (ht); S Cronin for Strauss (47); H van der Merwe for Healy (49); R Ruddock for McLaughlin (49); F Carr for D’Arcy (53); J Hagan for Ross (55); I Boss for Murphy (66).

CARDIFF: L Halfpenny; A Cuthbert, D Hewitt, J Roberts, T James; J Tovey, L Williams; T Filise, M Breeze, S Andrews; B Davies, J Down; J Navidi, S Warburton, A Pretorius

Replacements: L Reed for Davies (49); R Copeland for Warburton (49); L Jones for L Williams (57); R Williams for M Breeze (57); T Williams for James (66) Yellow Card: S Andrews (27-37)

Referee: I Davies (WRU).