Leinster 61
Ospreys 14
Daire Walsh reports from The RDS
JORDAN LARMOUR BAGGED a hat-trick of tries at the RDS last night as Leinster moved to within one point of Glasgow Warriors at the summit of the United Rugby Championship table with a clinical bonus-point victory at the expense of Ospreys.
Leading by just seven at the midway stage in the contest, Leinster amassed an impressive 40 points without reply after the restart – including a brace of finishes from Larmour to compliment his opening score on 27 minutes – to gain the maximum return from this fixture.
Despite having a Champions Cup final to look forward to against Toulouse at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a fortnight’s time, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen picked a strong team for the visit of the Welsh region to Ballsbridge.
The Wicklow native initially selected 10 players that started their tense European semi-final triumph over Northampton Saints at Croke Park seven days earlier and this number increased to 11 when Josh van der Flier was drafted into the back-row to replace Will Connors shortly before kick-off.
Rónan Kelleher and Jimmy O’Brien were promoted to the first 15 following their appearances off the bench in Croke Park seven days earlier and they combined to good effect before the latter raced home from 70 metres out for Leinster’s third-minute breakthrough try.
This was the perfect start for the Blues on a warm night in the capital and their lead was subsequently enhanced when Ross Molony capitalised on excellent approach work from Caelan Doris to power over for his first Leinster try since January 2022.
Ross Byrne added his second bonus strike of the evening to move Leinster 14 points clear, but this advantage was sensationally wiped out by the visitors before the opening quarter had elapsed. Firstly, outside centre Owen Watkin got Ospreys up and running on 14 minutes with a converted try after No 8 Morgan Morris had broken free from an attacking scrum.
Out-half Dan Edwards made no mistake from a straightforward conversion and he was the creative force behind their equalising score moments later.
His audacious crossfield kick towards the right-wing landed into the arms of Luke Morgan and with Ciaran Frawley adjudged to have tackled his opponent in the air beyond the Leinster line, a penalty try was awarded.
The Leinster full-back was sent to the sin-bin for this infraction, but his team-mates managed to regain momentum in his absence. When Ospreys full-back Max Nagy failed to control an awkward grubber kick by Byrne on 27 minutes, Larmour was on hand to supply the finishing touches for his seventh try of the season.
Byrne once again added the extras off the kicking tee and while they came under pressure in the tail end of the opening period, Leinster ultimately brought a 21-14 cushion into the interval.
While the tie itself was still delicately poised, the hosts were nevertheless within sight of a bonus point upon the resumption. This is perhaps what fuelled Leinster’s explosive start to the second half, which was less than a minute old when they bagged their fourth try of the proceedings.
Like his second-row partner Molony, South African native Jason Jenkins is set to bring his time at Leinster to a close in the coming weeks. It is anticipated the one-time Springbok international will have a big part to play in the business end of the season, however, and he burst over the Ospreys line after Jimmy O’Brien had once again made significant metres in attack.
Cullen gradually started to alter his line-up as the third-quarter progressed, but it was a brace of starters who shone brightest for Leinster’s fifth try in the 54th-minute. Robbie Henshaw picked out Larmour on the right hand-side after finding space deep inside into the Ospreys half and though he had a lot of work to do, the elusive winger showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition defence on his way to doubling his tally for the game.
Even though this effectively placed the final outcome beyond doubt, Leinster were in mood to drop their performances levels during the closing-quarter of a game that was played in front of 15,750 spectators.
Supplementing Larmour’s hat-trick score on 77 minutes – and six points from the boot of Frawley – Jamie Osborne, Charlie Nagatai and Tommy O’Brien also crossed over to round off a comprehensive victory for Leinster.
Leinster scorers:
Tries – Larmour [3], J O’Brien, Molony, Jenkins, Osborne, Ngatai, T O’Brien.
Conversions – R Byrne [5/5], Frawley [3/4]
Ospreys scorers:
Tries – Watkin, Penalty Try
Conversions: Dan Edwards [1/1]
LEINSTER: Ciaran Frawley; Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw (Tommy O’Brien ’58), Jimmy O’Brien; Ross Byrne (Charlie Ngatai ’58), Luke McGrath (Jamison Gibson-Park ’52); Andrew Porter (Michael Milne ’56), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan ‘52), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson ’56); Ross Molony (Jack Conan ’52), Jason Jenkins; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (Scott Penny ’71).
OSPREYS: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Owen Watkin, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Dan Edwards (Jack Walsh ’57) , Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith (Gareth Thomas ’52), Dewi Lake (Sam Parry ’57), Rhys Henry (Tom Botha ’52); James Ratti, Huw Sutton; Harri Deaves (Jac Morgan ’57), Justin Tipuric, Morgan Morris.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)