MAGNERS LEAGUE/Llanelli 10 Leinster 24:SLANTING RAIN and an ice rink of a pitch; this was one match Leinster would have been guaranteed to lose in another time and another place. Instead it was a coming of age of sorts for a side seeking a reputation for being able to dog it out when it counts. Leinster would say they dispelled the "flaky" myth a long time ago. If so Saturday's win over Llanelli serves to illustrate how far the team has come. Here's to more pushover tries from multiple phases. Banish thoughts of lovely Leinster.
This was ugly, forward-driven, hand-to-hand combat and what Leinster ultimately showed is not that they wanted it more but that they were willing to give more of themselves to get it.
The match was revealing and suggested that even in Stradey Park in a deluge they can now win, this time against the second-best-placed team on the Magners League table.
The prize is that Leinster are now 11 points clear at the top and in pole position to take this season's title.
It was encouraging from the start and though Llanelli came into the game in the second half and began playing dangerous, phased rugby, that controlled approach faded. In conditions that at one point in the first half forced the Leinster outhalf John Sexton to bow down to escape the horizontal rain, ball handling to any extent simply wasn't possible.
The forwards ruled supreme and what a game the front row had. Stan and Ollie (Wright and Le Roux) with a try each and another from secondrow Malcolm O'Kelly was a fitting reward as Leinster made it nine successive victories in the competition. Michael Cheika's side now have 50 points to second-placed Munster's 39.
Close control at the breakdown and in the mauls allowed Leinster take control of the match from early on, Leo Cullen, Jamie Heaslip and Shane Jennings all prepared to make the hard yards.
Within 12 minutes Le Roux was on hand to wrestle through two Llanelli players for the first close-range try, which Felipe Contepomi converted for 0-7.
Rucking and mauling in the mud appeared to be what Le Roux and Wright were built for, and two minutes before the break, and after Contepomi had restored Leinster's seven-point lead with a 25-metre penalty, Wright grabbed another touchdown, wriggling over with bodies.
This time the TMO was required but Leinster went in for the break with confidence and a lead they fully deserved.
Llanelli opened the second half with the same high-tempo possession game Leinster had shown in the first half. They probed around the fringes and when scrumhalf Chris Whitaker was binned for preventing release from a ruck, the home side capitalised on the numerical advantage as Dwayne Peel sent flanker Dafydd Jones over. Stephen Jones converted.
But Leinster were disciplined and the defence stood firm as Llanelli gained some momentum from their score.
The visitors still had the seven-point margin and when O'Kelly trundled over in the mire, much as Le Roux had done earlier, there was no way back for Llanelli.
Another yellow card, this time for Brian Blaney, determined that Leinster would have to sweat a little but gritty determination saw them through as bodies went on the line.
They will leave Wales satisfied that they earned the points and did it the hard way.
LLANELLI: M Stoddart; D James, R King, G Evans, M Jones; S Jones, D Peel (capt); P John, M Schwalger, B Douglas; L Reed, S McLeod; D Jones, G Thomas, A Popham. Replacements: M Rees for Schwalger (40 mins); N Thomas for Popham (45 mins); C Thomas for Stoddart (57 mins); B Broster for Douglas (67 mins).
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, M Berne, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, C Whitaker; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly; S Keogh, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: B Blaney for Jackman (37 mins); K Gleeson for Keogh (50 mins); G Dempsey for M Berne (64 mins); C Healy for Le Roux (74 mins).
Referee: P Fitzgibbon (Ireland).
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