Peter Burke
Leinster travelled to the Ospreys with, what would be considered, a depleted squad which for all rugby supporters is nothing new with the time of the season, the international window and all that so all relevant teams are missing a few players albeit Leinster more than most.
It was far from a classic but then again not every game you attend or watch is going to be.
Luke McGrath opened Leinsters account after a cut out pass by Osborne to O’Brien on the left and with the support lines run expertly by McGrath saw Leinster up by 5 with Frawley missing the conversion.but a few minutes later Leinster were awarded a penalty and Frawleys redemption was complete.
Ospreys being the team they are just would not stop and on the 36′ minute mark saw Deaves (who had a great game) crash over from a maul 5m out after the Ospreys were awarded a penalty for Leinster player not rolling away. The try was converted by Williams so now it was game on.
Again this croc roll and Ospreys were pinged and it was one of those kick to the trusted corner for Leinster, keep it tight and the rest is history with Tector scoring and Frawley converting.
Leinster led at halftime 7 -15.
The second half was sort of similar to the first but it took the homeside just 3 minutes to score after the kick off with Lewis scoring but with the conversion missed it was a 3 point game.
Time for the substitutes and Leinster brought on McCarthy, Gunne and Byrne.
Ospreys were under pressure at the breakdown and it showed when Slimani touched down with a great assist by the handcommando Snyman. Leinsters lead now out to 10.
Another try by the Ospreys from 5m as Leinster just struggled to defend from close as Jones touched down.In the closing minutes Ospreys had a kick to touch penalty but Hopkins missed and Leinster just kicked the ball out.
Overall it keeps the Leinster winning tally at 15 in a row but as mentioned it was far from a classic.
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones said: “When you play a top of the table team, you just want to be within a chance of winning. Obviously a three point game and a couple of minutes to go, you always think you can, unfortunately on this occasion we couldn’t.
“It was really down to our accuracy in the first half, that’s why we were left with a 15-7 margin at half-time, it was just a little bit too much to climb at the end.
“But as always the effort was never in question.”
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said: “When you’re 8-0 in front you probably had some opportunities to push on from that stage and we don’t and Ospreys come back into the game.
“I think everyone was probably just thinking it’s going to click into gear and it doesn’t quite.
“Ospreys were unbelievably dogged throughout, right to the very end, so we were pretty fortunate that they didn’t find touch otherwise it would have been a nervy last few minutes.”
Half Time: Ospreys 7 – 15 Ospreys
Ospreys 19
Tries: Deaves, Lewis, Jones Cons: Williams, Walsh
Leinster 22
Tries: McGrath, Tector, Slimani Cons: Fawley, Byrne Pen: Frawley