Schmidt gets sense of strength in depth

Leinster 6 Wasps 41:THE OUTCOME was never really a fact that could be gleaned from the personnel on duty at Donnybrook. Wasps offered a closer incarnation of full strength, particularly after the interval and bravery and application simply would not suffice any longer for the home side.

Leinster started to lose many of the physical collisions and with the visitors becoming slicker in thought and deed, the gaps opened up and the tries came at regular intervals in the second half. Leinster’s new coach Joe Schmidt won’t be overly concerned at the outcome preferring instead to absorb the evidence of individual performances.

There were several positives. Richardt Strauss had an exceptional game at hooker. Luke Fitzgerald, one minor handling error aside, appeared fit, sharp and not far off his best. He invariably broke the first up tackle, punted astutely and also managed a couple of turnovers.

Isaac Boss, a half-time replacement for Paul O’Donohue, introduced direction and vision to his team’s play while Dominic Ryan put in a couple of thunderous tackles. Niall Morris, Fergus McFadden, Devin Toner, David Kearney and Isa Nacewa caught the eye with neat cameos.

Leinster put together some excellent phases of rugby without actually engineering a definitive break. Wasps had to work a great deal less hard to convert their chances, countering swiftly when their hosts turned over the ball.

The opening 40 minutes was pockmarked by handling errors and some iffy decision-making. Wasps started with the greater cohesion and were rewarded within two minutes when they counter-attacked from a Leinster turnover. The home side were caught a little narrow and also short of numbers and Wasps centre Dom Waldouck fended off Eoin O’Malley before releasing Tom Varndell. The former Leicester Tigers speedster brushed off David Kearney’s tackle to cross for a try. Daver Walder missed the conversion.

Fitzgerald’s eagerness to involve himself in the game at every turn could have led to a try but Eoin Sheriff lost the ball after a fine break from his fullback. Leinster responded with a brace of penalties from Ian Madigan, who had a decent half in the pivot position.

The home side frustrated Wasps for much of the first half but there were three or four occasions when they were fortunate not to concede tries. Physically and in terms of unit skills the visitors enjoyed a pronounced edge. Walder’s penalty in first-half injury-time gave Wasps a 8-6 interval advantage.

Both teams made a raft of substitutions both at half-time and early in the second half and it was to have a pronounced influence on the outcome. Wasps sprung a host of internationals and obvious ability coupled with a higher intensity and slicker offloading game saw Wasps overrun their hosts with five further tries, two from Richard Haughton and one apiece for the excellent Ben Jacobs, Chris Wade and Mark van Gisbergen.

Schmidt will know a great deal more about some of his younger players and exactly what sort of depth, talent-wise, at his disposal.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: Varndell try, 0-5; 27: Madigan penalty, 3-5; 39: Madigan penalty, 6-5; 40 (+2): Walder penalty, 6-8. Half-time: 6-8. 44: Jacobs try, Walder conversion, 6-15; 56: Haughton try, Simpson conversion, 6-22; 61: Van Gisbergen try, Simpson conversion, 6-29; 71: Haughton try, 6-34; 75: Wade try, Simpson conversion, 6-41.

LEINSTER: L Fitzgerald; D Kearney, E O’Malley, E Sheridan, I Nacewa; I Madigan, P O’Donohue; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, M Ross; T Hogan, D Toner; E Sheriff, P Ryan, S O’Brien (capt). Replacements: F McFadden for Sheridan (19 mins), I Boss for O’Donohue (half-time), J Harris-Wright for Strauss (half-time), M Keating for Nacewa; N Morris for Fitzgerald (half-time), B Marshall for O’Brien (57 mins), S Wright for Ross (58 mins), I McKinley for Madigan (59 mins), Nacewa for Kearney (59 mins), D Ryan for P Ryan (62 mins), J McGrath for van der Merwe (69 mins), Ross for Wright (71 mins), M Galarza for Hogan (71 mins).

WASPS: J Wallace; R Haughton, B Jacobs, D Waldouck, T Varndell; Dave Walder, N Berry; Z Taulafo, T Lindsay, P Vickery; M Veale, R Birkett; W Matthews, S Betsen, J Hart. Replacements: R Webber for Lindsay (14-28 mins), S Jones for Matthews (25 mins), J Simpson for Berry (half-time), R Flutey for Waldouck (half-time), C Wade for Varndell (half-time), T Rees for Hart (half-time), J Cannon for Veale (half-time), B Broster for Vickery (half-time), T Payne for Taulafo (53 mins), Webber for Lindsay (53 mins), S Shaw for Birkitt (53 mins), E Daly for Walder (53 mins), M Van Gisbergen for Wallace (53 mins), J Hart for Jones (77 mins). Yellow card: S Shaw (Wasps) 74 mins.

Referee: J Lacey (Ireland).