Leinster are back up to second place in the BKT United Rugby Championship, as the race for the top seeds gets even tighter with two rounds to play.
After temporarily falling to fourth, following big wins for both the Bulls and Munster, Leo Cullen's side matched their five-pointers, with a 61-14 win over an Ospreys side that faded badly in the final quarter at the RDS.
The win wasn’t enough to climb back to the summit however, with the Glasgow Warriors’ two bonus-points, in spite of their defeat to the Bulls, keeping the Scottish side top, with just four points now separating the top four.
On a beautiful night for rugby at the RDS, Leinster won comfortably, but without ever really needing to hit top gear.
It looked like they were in for a stress-free night when tries for the returning Jimmy O’Brien and Ross Molony had them comfortably ahead inside 10 minutes, only for the Ospreys to hit them with two quick scores to level the game at 14-14.
The second of those was a penalty try, after Ciarán Frawley took out Luke Morgan in the air, which saw the Leinster full-back yellow-carded.
Indeed, the Ospreys looked threatening with Dan Edwards’ crossfield kicks, as they looked to beat the Jacques Nienaber blitz. Toulouse will have watched that tactic with interest.
While the Welsh side looked dangerous, Leinster got back in front when Jordan Larmour got over for the first of what would be three tries for the wing, while Jason Jenkins brought up the bonus-point just after the break.
Larmour’s second try of the night on 53 minutes broke the Ospreys, and the wing completed his hat-trick in the final 10 minutes, by which time the hosts had long sewn up their win, with Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai and Tommy O’Brien also getting in the scoresheet, as Leinster racked up a 47-point win.
It took Leinster just two minutes to cross for the game's opening try, as they ran the ball from deep to take advantage of a narrow Ospreys defence.
Rónan Kelleher was standing wide open on the left wing when Frawley flung a looping pass his way, and the hooker flew down the touchline before smartly moving back infield to draw in the final Ospreys defender, Max Nagy. And with the full-back committed, he popped the ball out to O’Brien on his left shoulder, as the winger raced clear for a try on his first start since December.
Byrne converted to make it 7-0, and the home side soon extended their lead.
A contestable kick to the Ospreys half from Frawley was tipped back by Ryan Baird to put Leinster on the counter. A penalty soon came Leinster’s way, and after turning down a shot at goal, it proved the right call as Molony crashed down the blindside for the second try on 10 minutes, converted by Byrne to make it 14-0.
It had been all Leinster, but they handed the visitors a route back in straight from the restart when they gave up a scrum, from which Owen Watkin burst through the tackle attempts of Jamie Osborne and Van der Flier to score, as Dan Edwards’ conversion drew it back to 14-7.
Incredibly, by the quarter-hour, it was a level game. A scrum penalty in midfield put Ospreys in a position to attack, with Edwards sending a crossfield kick in the direction of Luke Morgan in the corner, who was tackled in the air by Frawley. Penalty try, yellow card and out of nowhere it was 14-14.
The Welsh side could even have gone in front after Nagy and Edwards connected to split Leinster’s defence up the middle on 21 minutes, but the hosts had Caelan Doris to thank as the captain came up with a steal at the breakdown.
On 26 minutes, Leinster were back in front. Attacking the Ospreys 22 off a scrum, Byrne sent a grubber down the blindside, a squirty, messy kick that slipped out of the hands of Nagy on the line, allowing Larmour the easy task of just placing a hand on the ball to confirm the simplest of tries. Byrne made the most of their fortune, curling a beautiful conversion from the touchline to make it 21-14.
They were still living dangerously as the Ospreys got great change from Edwards’ crossfield kicks, but Leinster’s scrum came up with a big penalty five metres out from their own line on 37 minutes.
It was 21-14 at half time, although Leinster were frustrated not to be further ahead, with a lovely flick in the air from Henshaw sent Luke McGrath bursting towards the 22, but after moving wide they saw the chance escape them, as Larmour’s pass back inside to Henshaw spilled forward.
The frustrations from that missed chance didn't linger, and the second half was less than a minute old when Leinster ran in their bonus-point score, a rangy pass from Henshaw putting Jimmy O’Brien into space, before the winger found Jenkins who ploughed over the line, as another Byrne conversion made it 28-14.
With a buffer of two scores, Leinster looked a lot more comfortable as they started rotating the side, bringing Jamison Gibson-Park, in particular, on after 51 minutes.
Two minutes later they were in for a fifth try when Jimmy O’Brien again went haring down the left wing. As they moved back infield, Henshaw found a gap and broke through the middle, before floating a pass put to Larmour, who stepped back in off the right touchline to evade two tackles and score.
Another Byrne conversion, his fifth from five, extended the lead to 35-14.
With two tries on the board, a bonus-point was still in sight for the Ospreys, but as they pushed for a third try they left themselves exposed on the counter.
They were punished ruthlessly by Leinster on 69 minutes after a knock-on close to the home side’s 22, as Ngatai mopped up the loose ball, allowing Tommy O’Brien break down the wing, before he collected a chip-and-chase and popped it up to Osborne, who finished off a wonderful try.
With Byrne off the pitch, Frawley took the kicking tee, and added the extras to make it 42-14.
Ngatai got in on the act with seven minutes to play, the centre finishing off an excellent strike-play from a lineout in the 22, after some neat handling from Van der Flier and Scott Penny put him into space.
Their seventh try of the night, converted by Frawley, made it 49-14, and there was still time for them to run in two more scores.
With the Ospreys reduced to 14 men following a yellow-card for Evardi Boshoff, Larmour cruised in for his hat-trick score with three minutes left, before Jimmy O’Brien turned provider for his namesake Tommy to dive over for the ninth and final try, giving Leinster’s points difference in the URC table a valuable shine.
Leinster: Ciarán Frawley, Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O'Brien, Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Michael Milne, Thomas Clarkson, Jack Conan, Scott Penny, Jamison Gibson-Park, Charlie Ngatai, Tommy O'Brien.
Ospreys: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Owen Watkin, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Dan Edwards, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake, Rhys Henry; James Ratti, Huw Sutton; Harri Deaves, Justin Tipuric (capt), Morgan Morris.
Replacements: Sam Parry, Gareth Thomas, Tom Botha, Victor Sekekete, Jac Morgan, Luke Davies, Jack Walsh, Evardi Boshoff.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
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