Coach's calls correct as Leinster front-up

Ospreys 9 Leinster 19

Leinster understand what is required to win games like this, was the bones of what Rees offered and Alun Wyn Jones, slumped forward in his chair beside him, added a barely audible seconder.

The sight of the man who captained the Lions to an emphatic third Test victory against Australia only a few short months ago wearing such a hang-dog expression said even more about what Matt O’Connor’s side had achieved.

Leinster didn’t start all that brilliantly but they grew into the task as the evening wore on and denied the Welsh side even the morsel of a losing bonus point with a late penalty from the exceptional Jimmy Gopperth.

All the seminal moments swung Leinster’s way.

Richard Hibbard’s failure to use a two-man overlap early on; the penalty Leinster won from the scrum five metres out moments later when Mike Ross had just departed; Jamie Heaslip’s rip steal from Andrew Bishop which set up Sean O’Brien’s try and Gopperth’s try-saving tackle inside his own 22.

All of it fits in with Rees’ observation about how Leinster instinctively knew what to do and when to do it and it speaks volumes for a side working under a new coach, with a number of older statesmen gone or unavailable and on the back of a sobering defeat the week before in Limerick.

“There are things that we are trying to put together on the training paddock,” said O’Connor. “We have a pretty tight window with new players and new coaches and they are working very hard.

“We had some robust conversations earlier in the week post-Munster. They were the first to stick their hands up and say that wasn’t good enough, that wasn’t the Leinster standard, and they fixed it.”

Pretty much every man who boarded the flight home to Dublin did so with their reputations enhanced and chief among them was their Aussie boss whose choice of Gopperth and Isaac Boss as his half-backs proved spot on.

The decision not to go with Ian Madigan might have caused an indigenous intake of breath but the Kiwi 10 was masterly in his game management, in inviting colleagues into the line with flat passes and with his kicking and his tackling too.

Vindication, Matt?

“It’s not about being vindicated. It’s about getting the result for the group and we sat down on Monday and thought that Jimmy might manage it better than Mads at this point. Now, that might change next week but he has played very well. I have said it all along: he is a good pro. He is in a good side, a very good player.”

Gopperth was merely one among many: you could get through a notebook lauding the individual performances with more or less all of Leinster’s acknowledged leaders putting their hands up with seismic displays.

Sean O’Brien was monstrous at the breakdown and with ball in hand and earned the accolade of the day’s best, but Jamie Heaslip wasn’t far back in finishing either first or second in carries or tackles and metres made.

Kevin McLaughlin, the third member of the back row, may be less celebrated but his input too was exceptional and that was Leinster in microcosm: brilliance from their star power and the same again from those more noted as grunts.

It was Rhys Ruddock and Quinn Roux who barreled for the yards that earned Gopperth’s ‘coup de grace’ penalty near the finish and they were merely adding worth from a bench that had began emptying after 16 minutes.

The diagnosis on Mike Ross, who limped off after 16 minutes with a tight hammy but his loss allowed 22-year old Martin Moore to slot in and give a career standout performance in the scrum opposite a pack with two Lions.

Moore was only moments on the pitch when the Ospreys signalled for that five-metre scrum but when referee Wayne Barnes blew his whistle it was to ping the Lansdowne man’s veteran loosie Duncan Jones.

Even then it bore the hallmark of a momentum changer.

“Fair play to him,” said O’Connor. “He has got better every time he has played. I have only been lucky enough to see him play this year but every time he has played for us he has done a tremendous job. To come on at 16 minutes against the Ospreys is a big ask for anyone and I thought he was outstanding.”

OSPREYS: R Fussell; B John, A Bishop, A Beck, E Walker; D Biggar, T Tebaldi; D Jones, R Hibbard, A Jones; AW Jones, J King; R Jones, J Tipuric, J Bearman.

Replacements: R Bevington for D Jones (50); J Hassler for John (56); T Habberfield for Tebaldi (58); A Jarvis for A Jones (62); S Lewis for R Jones (62);

LEINSTER: R Kearney; F McFadden, B Macken, G D’Arcy, D Kearney; J Gopperth, I Boss: C Healy, S Cronin, M Ross; D Toner, M McCarthy; K McLaughlin, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: M Moore for Ross (20); J McGrath for Healy (62); E Reddan for Boss (68); R Ruddock for McLaughlin (69); L Fitzgerald for Macken (69).

Referee: W Barnes (England).