Bench boost sees Leinster recover from sluggish start to see off the Ospreys

Ospreys 19 Leinster 24

It was largely a performance to forget for 60 minutes but, as is often the case with Leinster in this competition, when tested, their superior depth told to the tune of 14 unanswered points in the space of four second-half minutes. Ospreys’ six-point lead was eradicated and Leo Cullen’s side left the swansea.com Stadium with four points, their sluggish opening costing them a try bonus point.

Few put their hand up significantly to upset the European pecking order ahead of next week’s trip to Gloucester. Jack Conan led the way with successful carries (12) and metres made (87) but struggled to impact the game in the way he would have wanted until a strong last quarter. It remains to be seen if he did enough to shift Ryan Baird from the first choice backrow.

In his first start of the season, Harry Byrne showed good touches with his distribution and carrying but looked what he is at this stage, a player starved of regular game time. Twice attacks ended in the Ospreys 22 when he knocked on – though both passes to him were unsympathetic – while he cost Dan Sheehan a free run-in out wide when his cross-field kick flew into touch on the full.

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His was by no means a poor display, but when his brother Ross came on for the last quarter, Leinster’s attack flowed all the better, culminating in scores for Hugo Keenan and Jimmy O’Brien that put the game to bed.

Leinster’s set-piece was a mixed bag. The lineout functioned better than last week with Sheehan at hooker and Ross Molony calling plenty of throws to himself, offering Charlie Ngatai quality ball to run with on first phase, but the scrum creaked. Ospreys loosehead Nicky Smith got the better of Michael Ala’alatoa on more than one occasion.

Add in a resolute Ospreys’ defence in the early stages and Leinster struggled to make inroads. Their lineout and transition attack, led largely by the link-up play of an excellent Jamie Osborne, saw them dominate possession and territory, but the forward runners were repelled time and again by a well-stocked defensive line highlighted by the evergreen Justin Tipuric.

Ospreys’ defensive excellence was combined with 10 points in the space of five minutes once the clock ticked past the opening stages. First Tipuric pinned Byrne into a ruck to allow Cai Evans a penalty to open the scoring, then Reuben Morgan-Williams picked through an understaffed blindside to send Keenan Giles away in the corner.

A response did come from Leinster; Osborne, linking nicely with Ngatai and Jordan Larmour to send O’Brien close, but Kieran Williams denied him a try in the corner with a quality scramble tackle. Williams nearly added to Ospreys’ lead after being played into a gap by Morgan-Williams as Leinster’s defence drifted off the centre thinking he was in front of his scrumhalf. Referee Andrea Piardi let play get to within inches of the line before agreeing, bringing proceedings back for a forward pass.

Byrne did kick Leinster onto the scoreboard after half an hour via a penalty. Ospreys’ discipline worsened as the half neared its end, allowing an efficient lineout attack a chance inside the 22.

Ngatai once again made ground on the first phase and when Cormac Foley spun the ball across the onrushing Tipuric into space out wide, Sheehan powered his way over. Byrne’s conversion levelled proceedings heading into the break.

The improved accuracy deserted the visitors in the second 40, a spill and offside penalty allowing Evans to retake the lead.

Come the last half-an-hour, Cullen decided change was in order and the starting halfback pairing and entire frontrow was called ashore.

The attack immediately flowed better with Ross Byrne demanding the ball phase upon phase. He took a pass out the back door from Osborne, opening up space for Keenan to run at replacement hooker Scott Baldwin. Badly outmatched for speed, the frontrow wasn’t helped by his outside defender failing to jam in and Keenan coasted home.

From the kick-off, Conan came up with a breakdown steal to confirm the momentum shift. Leinster went up the line and nearly had a second try in as many minutes when Michael Milne was held up. Ospreys barely got the ensuing drop-out away before the ball went wide, Osborne again influential in feeding O’Brien who stepped past a weak tackle effort before powering through another to score.

Two tries in the space of four minutes completely undid all the hosts’ good work up. The toll of their high workload in defence – 179 tackles made compared to Leinster’s 117 – had an effect as their once excellent rearguard tired.

They did work up the pitch for Evans to narrow the gap off the tee before his booming touchfinder set up a last attack, only for Vakh Adbaladze to get in over the ball and seal the result.

Leinster had one final scrum up the pitch to try and secure that fourth try, but with the clock in the red, Ross Byrne took no chances after a difficult win was secured, instead opting to boot the ball into the stand.

Scoring sequence: 11 mins Evans pen 3-0; 15 mins Giles try, Evans con 10-0; 21 mins H Byrne pen 10-3; 37 mins Sheehan try, H Byrne con 10-10; half-time 10-10; 44 mins Evans pen 13-10; 55 mins Evans pen 16-10; 65 mins Keenan try, R Byrne con 16-17; 69 mins O’Brien try, R Byrne con 16-24; 73 mins Evans pen 19-24

Ospreys: Cai Evans; Mat Protheroe, Michael Collins, Kieran Williams, Keelan Giles; Jack Walsh, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake, Tomas Francis; Rhys Davies; Alun Wyn Jones, Ethan Roots, Justin Tipuric (capt), Morgan Morris. Replacements: Joe Hawkins for Protheroe (7 mins), Huw Sutton for Roots (49 mins), Gareth Thomas for Smith, Tom Botha for Francis (both 51 mins) Harri Deaves for Morris (61 mins), Scott Baldwin for Lake (64 mins).

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai, Jimmy O’Brien; Harry Byrne, Cormac Foley; Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan, Michael Ala’alatoa; Ross Molony, Brian Deeny; Rhys Ruddock (capt), Scott Penny, Jack Conan. Replacements: Rob Russell for Ngatai (half-time), John McKee for Dan Sheehan, Michael Milne for Cian Healy, Vakh Abdaladze for Michael Ala’alatoa, Nick McCarthy for Foley, Ross Byrne for H Byrne (all 52 mins), Sheehan for McKee (54 mins, HIA), James Ryan for Molony (54 mins), Josh van der Flier for Penny (71 mins).

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR).