Ospreys 27 Leinster 3LUKE FITZGERALD'S misery continued as Leinster crashed to an opening defeat to the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.
The axed Ireland star has endured a torrid couple of weeks after being omitted from Declan Kidney’s World Cup and failed to make a mark in Swansea before being substituted after 56 minutes with a knee injury.
Leinster made the worst possible start, conceding a try within three minutes as Richard Fussell and Ashley Beck combined and tore through the Leinster defence to release Andrew Bishop and the Wales centre off-loaded out of contact for Rhys Webb to score in the corner.
Dan Biggar added the extras and extended the lead with a penalty on 12 minutes before Hanno Dirksen grabbed a second try after linking with Jonathan Thomas at the back of a scrum, with Biggar again converting.
Leinster had the opportunity to reduce the deficit on 24 minutes, but Mat Berquist, making his competitive debut, was well off target. And the hosts punished Joe Schmidt’s men for their lack of accuracy with a Biggar drop-goal shortly before the half-hour mark.
That seemed to spur Leinster on and they enjoyed their first real venture into Ospreys territory and were rewarded for their tenacity with a penalty on 30 minutes, which Berquist duly slotted.
But the hosts struck with a telling blow on the stoke of half-time with Justin Tipuric diving over.
New signing Fionn Carr became isolated after launching an ambitious counter-attack. He was turned over and Webb sniped through before chipping Isa Nacewa with Tipuric on hand to collect. Biggar added the extras to complete the scoring on the night.
Leinster began the second half with far more impetus and threatened the Ospreys on several occasions. Skipper Rhys Ruddock declined a succession of shots at goal and he looked to have got his reward when Kevin McLaughlin crashed over, but the blindside flanker was held up and the opportunity lost.
OSPREYS: R Fussell; K Phillips, A Bishop, A Beck, H Dirksen; D Biggar, R Webb; D Jones, M Davies, C Griffiths, I Gough, I Evans, T Smith, J Tipuric (capt), J Thomas. Replacements: M Allen for Smith, T Isaacs for Phillips (both 58), J Rees for Jones (62), S Parker for Beck, J King for Gough (both 66), M Morgan for Biggar (72), K Dowding for Davies (76), M Dwyer for Griffiths (78).
LEINSTER: I Nacewa; D Kearney, E O'Malley, L Fitzgerald, F Carr; M Berquist, J Cooney; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, J Hagan, D Browne, D Toner, K McLaughlin, D Ryan, R Ruddock (capt). Replacements: C Willis for Cooney (40), I Madigan for Berquist (51), B Macken for Fitzgerald, M Flanagan for Browne (both 56), L Auva'a for Ruddock (61), A Dundon for Strauss (66), J O'Connell for Van der Merwe (77).
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon.
