Leinster have made it 12 wins in a row in the PRO14 with a 21-13 victory against the Ospreys at the Gnoll tonight.
It extends their winning streak to 18 across all competitions so far this season, but they were made to work for the result by a battling Ospreys side.
The Ospreys had the better of the game early on and had a chance to take the lead with a penalty but it hit the upright from long-range.
They were made to pay for that miss just before the quarter of an hour mark as Tommy O’Brien, who was brought on for Conor O’Brien early on, was put over after some wonderful quick passing from the Leinster players. Ciaran Frawley slotted over the conversion from the right-hand side of the pitch to make it 7-0.
Ospreys fly-half Luke Price missed another penalty a few minutes later, but it was third time lucky for the hosts as he struck over a penalty heading into the final minute of the half.
However, it got better for the home side seconds later as Leinster attempted an attack near the halfway-line only to misplace the pass allowing winger Luke Morgan to pick up the ball and race in for a try. Price added the extras to leave the Ospreys 10-7 in front come the half-time whistle as they looked to cause a major upset.
Leinster came flying out of the blocks in the second period and camped in the Osprey’s 22 for the opening 10 minutes of the half, winning penalty after penalty, taking the scrum option nearly every time.
Their hard work was rewarded around the 50 minute mark as Josh Murphy eventually barrelled over the line from close-range. Frawley knocked over the conversion from beside the posts to put them back in front.
The Ospreys came back strong following that score and after some good play in the Leinster half they got to within a point of the away side as Price kicked a simple penalty from in front of the posts to make it 14-13 with just under 20 minutes to go.
Ospreys couldn’t cope with the Leinster pressure that was to come and conceded several penalties, but Leinster had to wait until the final five minutes to make it count.
With five minutes left the referee lost his patience with the hosts and sent replacement hooker Sam Perry to the sin-bin.
From the resulting scrum the boys in blue got over for their third try of the game with Cian Kelleher darting over down the right-wing. Harry Byrne was perfect from the tee to extend their lead.
Next up for the Ospreys is a trip to Italy where they will face Zebre next Friday, while Leinster will hope to continue their winning run across all competitions when they host the Glasgow Warriors at the same time.
Player Ratings
Starting XV:
Hugo Keenan (7), Cian Kelleher (7), Jimmy O’Brien (7), Conor O’Brien (N/A), James Lowe (8), Ciaran Frawley (8), Jamison Gibson-Park (8); Peter Dooley (9), James Tracy (6), Michael Bent (8), Ross Molony (7), Scott Fardy (7), Josh Murphy (8), Scott Penny (7), Rhys Ruddock (7)
Replacements (7)
