Leinster score poorly in searching test

The Ospreys 11 Leinster 3Sure enough, the high-flying Ospreys provided Leinster with just the sort of full-on examination they needed before the Heineken European Cup kicks off, if nothing like the result or the performance they were looking for.

For their second trek to Wales in a fortnight, Leinster came away empty-handed and when the Celtic League resumes, they'll find themselves a dozen points off the pace being set by the unbeaten Ospreys.

This was a grim old struggle on a cold, crisp and still night in Swansea and as the scoreline indicates Leinster struggled to make use of what ball they had, but despite long spells in their own territory and on the back foot, they defended doggedly.

They created few or no openings, and only two penalty shots at goal. By comparison, Gavin Henson couldn't match his prodigious line-kicking off the ground, missing six kicks out of eight, including four kickable penalties.

The penalty count went heavily against Leinster, and the game became irretrievable when David Holwell was binned late on, but Rob Dickson's often curious decisions couldn't excuse another disappointing night for a Leinster team that again struggled to generate go-forward ball or even retain it under pressure.

They struggled for continuity in the face of some fierce, ball-and-all tackling by the Ospreys and were comparatively standoffish until picking up their aggression levels in the second half.

The scrum was generally sound but buckled when moves were on in the second half. Guy Easterby will have been disappointed with his mixed bag of a performance, Holwell couldn't match Henson's range and though Brian O'Driscoll probed and tried to free his hands in the tackle, he was generally well marshalled and in numbers.

Declan Kidney could scarcely conceal his disappointment.

"We were poor and we lost. We were naïve, and that's the thing we have to sort out. We just struggled in most facets. We let them run at us.

"It wasn't a game of huge quality. There was a lot of chess being played, but of a poor standard really. It's another game under our belt but we just need to wise up and smarten up - but it's only games that will do that for us. I do believe that the whole thing will come together but there's a lot of things that will have to happen before we become a good side."

By half-time Leinster hadn't threatened the scoreboard, and on the run of play were probably grateful to keep the deficit to two Henson penalties. Henson, sporting a new silver-blue hair rinse, was running onto the ball confidently. One blindside offload in the tackle and another by David Bishop opened up the tryline for Richard Pugh, but Denis Hickie's one-armed intervention was enough to knock the ball from his grasp.

The greatest source of strength for Leinster was their lineout, helped by a couple of Malcolm O'Kelly steals on the opposition throw, but Ben Gissing's straight running apart they couldn't build momentum off it, either coughing up the ball in the tackle or being double tackled and having their ruck ball slowed down.

The one time they did, Gissing taking quick lineout ball up the outhalf channel and Leinster recycling in turn off O'Driscoll and Des Dillon, Easterby chose too narrow a blindside corridor and from the next ruck passed out along the deck.

With the penalties also going the home side's way, Leinster repelled one attempted lineout drive before Henson was entrusted to open the scoring at the end of the first quarter. He doubled the lead with an angled penalty that must have been 50 metres from the posts.

This followed Dickson penalising Gissing for not releasing after an alert intercept, when Barry Williams clearly hadn't rolled away after the tackle, and Kidney had a brief conversation with the Scottish official at half-time.

After the resumption Holwell landed the second of two kickable penalties following hard yardage by Gissing and Reggie Corrigan, either side of Henson missing one, and the introduction of Shane Horgan in midfield, with Gordon D'Arcy on the wing, was a commentary on what was needed on the night.

But mistakes and the penalty count riddled their game. Henson missed a straightish 40-metre penalty and another closer in from more of an angle after Holwell had prevented release of the ball and was binned. His absence was keenly felt, Dempsey skewing a short little restart behind his pack and then slicing a touchfinder.

Duncan Jones rumbled off the lineout, the Ospreys went wide,Parker extravagantly stepped inside Shane Byrne, and though he was collared under the posts by Hickie, they had sufficient numbers off the recycle for Parker to score off Henson's pass with a man outside.

Henson missed the conversion and another penalty but despite one searing break from deep by D'Arcy, there wasn't even a bonus point in it for Leinster.

Scoring sequence: 20 mins: Henson pen 3-0; 38: Henson pen 6-0; (half-time 6-0); 48: Holwell pen 6-3; 76: Parker try 11-3.

OSPREYS: A Durston; R Mustoe, D Bishop, S Parker, S Williams; G Henson, J Spice; D Jones, B Williams (capt), A Jones, L Bateman, B Cockbain, A Lloyd, R Jones, R Pugh. Replacements: J Bater for Lloyd (69 mins), P James for D Jones (77 mins), A Millward for A Jones (81 mins), A Newman for R Jones (82 mins).

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; G Brown, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, D Hickie; D Holwell, G Easterby; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, R Nebbett, M O'Kelly, B Gissing, A McCullen, D Dillon, S Jennings. Replacements: S Horgan for Holwell (8-16 mins) and for Contepomi (51 mins), G D'Arcy for Brown (51 mins), L Cullen for Gissing (61 mins).

Referee: Rob Dickson (SRU).