Leinster withstand late Ospreys onslaught to claim narrow victory
TOUGH WIN: Luke McGrath of Leinster scores his side's first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ospreys and Leinster at Swansea.com Stadium in Swansea, Wales. Photo by Chris Fairweather/Sportsfile
Leinster were able to heave a heavy sigh of relief after keeping the Ospreys at bay as they threw the kitchen sink at the URC league leaders and matched them try for try.
It meant that for only the third time in 11 games this season they failed to pick up a bonus-point, yet still extended their lead at the top of the table.
Leinster went onto the attack immediately and won the first penalty. Their driving play took them up to the posts, but home Number eight Morgan Morris won a vital turn over to save the day.
Morris, the most in form back row man in Wales, who never got a sniff under Warren Gatland or some reason, picked off another turn over in a lively start from the home side as they ripped into Leinster.
Their line speed was impressive, with the blue-hatted Justin Tipuric still leading the charge at the age of 35. The referee had to call the two captains together early doors to keep a lid on things after Harri Deaves and Jack Boyle had exchanged pleasantries on the fringe of a ruck.
A neck roll by James Culhane at a breakdown in the Leinster 22 gave the Ospreys a chance to open the scoring, but after turning down a kick at goal, they had their five metre line-out throw burgled in the middle of the line and the chance went begging.
The home side will have rued that miss because once they had regained their full composure they were able to build their score as they chased an 11th straight win. The first try came in the 13th minute and it fell to skipper Luke McGrath.
It was his cross field kick that set up the attacking position wide out on the right just inside the home 22 and quick hands saw the ball spread to the other side of the field. Jamie Osbourne, fitting in at full back on the night, stepped out of Keiran Williams and his long pass to Jimmy O’Brien allowed the attack to build.
O’Brien found back row man Max Deegan on his inside and the flanker brilliantly offloaded a one-handed pass to McGrath on his right and the try followed. Ciaran Frawley missed with the conversion but hit the target from in front of the posts with a penalty three minutes later.
After that the Leinster scrum took complete control of that area of the set-piece game, with both Jack Walsh and Rabah Slimani causing mayhem, but not even that could quell the home side's enthusiasm for the fight.
Back-to-back penalties from Leinster gave Owen Williams the chance to kick into the corner and from a second line out the hyper-active Deaves bagged the try that Williams improved. That brought it back to a single point game, but it didn’t stay that way.
Deaves conceded a penalty from the re-start for a croc roll in his 22 and Frawley kicked to the corner. Four drives later and centre Charlie Tector cut a great line to crash over at the posts. Frawley’s conversion made it 15-8 to the visitors at the break.
A second driving line out try in the 49th minute for the Ospreys from hooker Ethan Lewis kept the game in the melting pot and it took a further 16 minutes before Leinster finally created some daylight on the scoreboard.
RG Snyman went into contact a few metres out, made a dent and delivered a sublime offload before he hit the deck to give Slimani a try on a plate that Ross Byrne improved.
But back came the Ospreys and young prop Cam Jones rounded off some good phase play with a try that allowed Walsh to cut the gap to three points with six to go.
They had one final roll of the dice when Tipuric turned over the ball on half way with 10 seconds on the clock, but Iestyn Hopkins’ bid for glory with a deep touchfinder Failed to hit the mark and Leinster were happy to kick it off the field.
H Deaves, E Lewi, C Jones.
O Williams, J Walsh.
Tries: L McGrath, C Tector, R Slimani; Cons: C Frawley, R Byrne; Pen: C Frawley.
J Walsh (T Florence 77); D Kasende, E Boshoff, K Williams, K Giles (T Florence 66-77); O Williams (I Hopkins 45), R Morgan-Williams (K Hardy 30); G Phillips (C Jones 55), E Lewis (W Austin 74), T Botha (B Warren 55), J Ratti (W Spencer 53), J Fender, H Deaves, J Tipuric (captain), M Morris (M Morse 62).
J Osborne; T O'Brien, H Cooney, C Tector (R Byrne 53), J O'Brien; C Frawley, L McGrath (captain, F Gunne 53); J Boyle (P McCarthy 53), G McCarthy (A Soroka 62), R Slimani (R McGuire 67), D Mangan, B Deeny (RG Snyman 47), M Deegan (A Soroka 62), S Penny, J Culhane.
A Osborne.
Filipo Russo (Italy).
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