Matt O’Connor: Leinster still a major force

Leinster 18 Bath 15: Hardly the sort of performance to put the fear of God into the other three remaining Rugby Champions Cup semi-finalists, but Leinster coach Matt O’Connor insists his side are still a difficult nut to crack.

The bottom line – a three-point win and the successful navigation towards a first European Cup semi-final since 2012 – would support that premise, though most of the 43,895 people who left Ballsbridge on Saturday evening might hold a different view. These were two teams who looked like sides playing together as collective units for the first time in ages which, of course, they were, after both had provided decent chunks of their roster to the Irish and English Six Nations campaigns.

Leinster missed 26 tackles, one in four they attempted on the day, and had their line cleanly broken seven times by a Bath side that undid itself with countless handling errors and a dozen penalties, half of which Ian Madigan punished with points.

That Bath provided the only two tries, through George Ford and Stuart Hooper after 20 and 47 minutes, ultimately counted for nought. As Ford’s dad and coach Mike said afterwards, there is more than one way to win a game, and Leinster managed just that.

Ford Sr was clearly peeved at the loss. The five points his young lad missed from kicks in the first half proved crucial. So, too, the nine they conceded in the second quarter when Anthony Watson sat in the bin after tackling Rob Kearney in the air. The impression then was of a Leinster side that had not so much kept itself alive as much as one that earned a stay of execution. This is clearly not the same outfit that caused a continent to tremble as recently as three years ago. Even if O’Connor would disagree.

“That’s a press opinion,” said the head coach who has had to launch more than one case for his side’s defence this season. “If you ask anybody who we’re playing against, they’d have a fair bit of fear in their changing room prior to the game. There’s a fair bit of fear when you play Cian Healy, Sean O’Brien, Dev Toner and Jamie Heaslip, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney and Zane Kirchner. There’s a fair bit of fear there.”

There were undeniably areas of real cheer.

This was always going to be a tricky obstacle given Bath’s abilities, the reintegration of their glut of Irish internationals and the one week less in which they had to do just that this year what with the new condensed European calendar. For all the missed tackles, it shouldn’t be forgotten that they dominated in the scrum and only conceded a scarcely believable four penalties, but Jamie Heaslip was up front in accepting that the same again will hardly suffice going forward.

Not just in France, mind, but next week in Wales as well, where they must defeat Newport Gwent Dragons if they are to keep their hopes of making the Pro12 play-offs alive and kicking beyond the second week of April.

“In two weeks’ time, we have got to go to another level,” said the captain. “That’s what we talked about pretty quickly after the game. A lot of character was shown to stay in the hunt in that last 20 minutes when they had the ball. They are a very hard team to defend against and they just kept coming and coming. To hold out and not give a penalty away in that last set showed character. We’ll take those positives and work on the negatives as well.”

Among those negatives was a third European game from seven in which they have failed to score a try. Take out the seven they racked up against a disinterested Castres in January and their rate runs at less than one per game.

“You’ve probably got to score tries against Toulon to win,” agreed O’Connor, who explained away this latest blank by referencing Bath’s frequent concession of penalties. “I don’t think we’ll have the same dominance at setpiece as we had (Saturday).”

What may be of most concern as they approach the last four is the absence of the old ruthlessness, that ability to kill games off, that almost cost them dearly in the draw away to Wasps in round six three months ago.

It was almost fatal this time again with a flat and reactive last half-hour after Madigan landed his final penalty 53 minutes in, allowing Bath to turn the screw and come within a disputed Jerome Garces decision of securing extra-time at the least. They will hardly find the French so accommodating again in Marseille.

LEINSTER: R Kearney; F McFadden, B Te’o, I Madigan, L Fitzgerald, J Gopperth, I Boss; C Healy, S Cronin, M Ross; D Toner, M McCarthy; J Murphy, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: Z Kirchner for McFadden (42); M Moore for Ross (51); E Reddan for Boss and J McGrath for Healy (both 58); R Strauss for Cronin (66); T Denton for McCarthy (72); G D’Arcy for Kearney (75).

BATH: A Watson; H Agulla, J Joseph, K Eastmond, M Banahan; G Ford, M Young; P James, R Webber, K Palma-Newport; S Hooper, D Attwood; C Fearns, F Louw, L Houston.

Replacements: R Batty for Webber (50); N Auterac for James (53); A Faosiliva for Fearns and M Lahiff for K Palma-Newport (both 58); S Burgess for Eastmond (61); M Garvey for Attwood (63); P Stringer for Young (66); L Houston for Agulla (66).

Referee: J Garces (FFR).