O'Kelly catches Woodward's eye

Former England coach Clive Woodward praised Leinster lock Malcolm O’Kelly, as his Lions watching brief saw him take in the Irish province’s 30-11 Heineken Cup Pool 2 defeat of Bath at Lansdowne Road tonight.

Leinster’s centre partnership of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, whose controversial 67th minute try saw the home side crucially edge 23-11 in front, were at the forefront of Woodward’s mind, but he had a special mention for 30-year-old O’Kelly – already capped five times by the Lions.

“Obviously I was looking out for the centres – but I thought (Malcolm) O’Kelly had an outstanding game,” said Woodward.

“It was unfortunate to see D’Arcy injured – Eddie O’Sullivan has gone down to see how he is, so hopefully he’s OK.”

D’Arcy, nominated for this year’s IRB World Player of the Year award, dropped a 45th minute goal and touched down under the heavy challenge of Bath flanker Michael Lipman, but sustained a groin strain as he stretched to ground the ball.

“You hate to see anyone stretchered off,” said Leinster boss Declan Kidney, claiming his second European win on the trot. “Here’s hoping it’s just a short term injury for Gordon.

“It was a good game,” added the Corkman. “We just talked about it at half time – saying it was a great thing to be part of and that we just needed a bit of composure.

“I think we can become more composed but this win might help us to get over some of the anxiety in the side at the moment.

“We’re two weeks into this part of the block,” added Kidney, whose Leinster side sit on top of the Pool on eight points – three clear of Benetton Treviso.

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves, it’s only the second round and you don’t win anything this time of the year.”

Heineken Cup man-of-the-match David Holwell is just one of the reasons Kidney can be satisfied with his performance so far.

The 29-year-old New Zealander – the scorer of a record 613 Super 12 points for the Wellington Hurricanes – is not getting carried away just yet though.

“My first kick was a lucky one and managed to scrape over,” said Holwell, who notched 12 points. “From there on I was striking well. I was just pleased to be playing with a Leinster team playing to form.

“In the second half we managed to get some good, quick ball and find some space out wide so that was pleasing. We just had to get field position and put their forwards under pressure.

“Bath are a top quality side and we didn’t want them to play with the ball - we said hold onto it and get some of our guys going forward.”