Last-minute penalty denies Leinster victory

Ospreys 22-20 Leinster

Matthew Jones went from villain to hero in the space of three minutes as reigning Celtic League champions Ospreys came from behind to defeat Leinster at The New Stadium.

Jones looked to have lost the game for the home side when he attempted to run out of defence and spilled the ball.

Ospreys gave away a penalty and Felipe Contepomi made no mistake to give the Leinstermen a two-point advantage.

But the home side were awarded a difficult penalty in the closing minutes and Jones stepped up to land a superb kick from 45 metres.

The Ospreys outscored Leinster three tries to one but made a glut of errors as they struggled to get their game together.

For the hosts, Andrew Bishop claimed two touchdowns and Barry Williams notched one, while Rob Kearney went over for the visitors and Contepomi bagged five penalties.

The Ospreys led by only five points at the break despite having far the better of the first half.

They made a dream start when youngster Andrew Bishop crossed with just 20 seconds on the clock.

The 20-year-old charged down an attempted clearance from Leinster wing Rob Kearney and had the pace to claim the touch down.

Contepomi replied with a penalty but the Ospreys moved up a couple of gears to claim their second try.

Skipper Barry Williams did the damage, charging over from short range after good line-out work from Andy Lloyd.

But Contepomi cut the deficit in first-half injury-time when he fired over two penalties in rapid succession.

Contepomi added his fourth penalty early in the second half and the Ospreys found it hard to respond.

Eventually Bishop went over for his second try, set up by Leigh Davies and Jason Spice, before Girvan Dempsey created Kearney’s score.

Leinster appeared to have won with Contepomi’s fifth strike, but Jones had the final say.