Evans stamp sends Leinster sailing through

HEINEKEN CUP POOL 1:

The win and five-try bonus point left Matt O’Connor’s side on 22 points at the top of Pool 1 and rendered inconsequential the efforts of Northampton, who were home to Castres and needed a heavy Leinster loss and bonus-point win of their own to qualify instead.

A miracle, in other words.

The night’s endeavours leave Leinster ranked No 2 of those teams heading into April’s quarter-finals, but the likelihood remains that the province will slide into the bottom half of the eight when all is done and dusted elsewhere tomorrow night.

A trip to France is now their most likely prize, but this was a game where they were their own worst enemies at times against a side that spent most of the evening with a man down.

That numerical superiority came courtesy of a moment of madness from Ospreys’ international lock Ian Evans, whose stamp on a prone Mike McCarthy at the end of the first quarter was punished with a red card from referee Romain Poite.

It was a decision that took multiple viewings from video referee Laurent Valin and, though the culprit was difficult to spot amid the cluster of legs, it was Evans who got the shepherd’s hook and he walked off without protest.

It was an action that changed the narrative at a stroke and it was compounded when Ospreys‘ former Wales captain Ryan Jones limped off two minutes later to be replaced by the inexperienced Lloyd Peers.

Leinster will have been grateful for the help.

The opening quarter had been littered with spills and few thrills as both sidesstruggled to hold onto the ball — as was the case when Leinster went to France last weekend to face Castres.

There were no early tries conceded on this occasion but the sight of Sean Cronin, Jimmy Gopperth and Brian O’Driscoll spilling the pill in promising positions made for a frustrating experience and it continued for most of the evening.

Ospreys, beaten just once here in four visits, again did their bit to add to the home side’s difficulties with Alun-Wyn Jones and Richard Hibbard getting a hand in here and a tackle there to separate men from ball on two occasions.

The Welsh side’s pack of Lions had always promised to be a thorn in the side but it was only when McCarthy felt some studs to the head instead that things began to go in Leinster’s favour.

It started on 33 minutes when Leo Cullen, on as blood sub for McCarthy, collected a lineout on the Ospreys 22 and the resultant maul was just inches from the try line when Poite finally lost patience with the visitors‘ attempts to drag it down.

The penalty try and conversion left Leinster 10-3 ahead after Gopperth and Dan Biggar traded penalties earlier on and Leinster’s Kiwi out-half nearly scored his third try in two games 100 seconds or so later.

Martin Moore’s burst through midfield left him galloping for the posts but a seemingly certain try was denied by a double tackle from the Ospreys with a stray leg preventing the touch down and causing Gopperth to knock-on. It didn’t matter.

Biggar could only clear to the 22 from the resultant scrum and Leinster piled on the pressure through a multitude of phases from the lineout before Cian Healy burrowed over for a converted try from a metre out.

From there the expectation was that it would be plain sailing. Not so. Dave Kearney was denied his side’s third try on 50 minutes in due to an intentional offside by Shane Jennings and on they toiled.

Eoin Reddan would spill the chance of another five-pointer — the third they squandered on the night — later on but not before Poite awarded them another penalty try after the Leinster scrum drove their counterparts over their own line.

The introduction of Richardt Strauss for his first appearance since undergoing heart surgery drew a standing ovation from the sold-out RDS, but there was still work to be done to claim the bonus point.

Jordi Murphy saw to that by claiming the fourth try with just eight minutes left and Isaac Boss rounded off the touchdowns shortly after to put the gloss on a game where Leinster fostered and frustrated and yet still managed five tries.

LEINSTER: R Kearney; D Kearney, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald, J Gopperth, E Reddan; C Healy, S Cronin, M Moore; D Toner, M McCarthy; R Ruddock, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Replacements: L Cullen for McCarthy (53); Z Kirchner for R Kearney (46); I Madigan for D’Arcy (51); J McGrath for Healy (53); M Ross for Moore (60); J Murphy for Jennings (62); R Strauss for Cronin (67); I Boss for Reddan (70).

OSPREYS: S Davies; J Hassler, J Spratt, B John, A Natoga; D Biggar, R Webb; R Bevington, R Hibbard, A Jones; AW Jones, I Evans; T Ardron, J Tipuric, R Jones.

Replacements: M Morgan for John (7); S Baldwin for Hibbard (41); J King for Ardron; M Thomas for Baldwin (both 51); M Allen for Webb; T Habberfield for AW Jones (both 74)

Referee: R Poite (FFR).