By Etienne Turpin
Jordan Larmour scored a hat-trick of tries, as Leinster scored nine to trash the Ospreys on Saturday evening. Further tries from Jimmy O’Brien, Tommy O’Brien, Ross Molony, Jamie Osborne and Charlie Ngatai and Jason Jenkins saw the four-time European Champions claim a comfortable win in Dublin.
Leinster got off to a flying start on Saturday evening with two tries inside the opening 10 minutes. The first try came from when they attacked from inside their own half and Jimmy O’Brien beat Luke Morgan in a sprint to go over. Byrne nailed the conversion and Leinster had an early seven-point lead. O’Brien came off the bench last week after a few months out of action.
Ross Molony crashed over minutes later after Leinster threatened the Ospreys line with numerous picks and go. Byrne was again successful with the sideline conversion. As Leinster built an early lead over the Ospreys.
But they were punished from a rare error from kick off when Owen Watkins sliced through the Leinster defence with a brilliant line after Morgan Morris’ initial charge from a scrum. Edwards popped over the extra two and the Ospreys were back within seven in what was an entertaining start in Dublin.
After Leinster’s rapid start, they were shocked by the brilliant Ospreys fightback who were soon level after they were awarded a penalty try. It came after a clever kick from Dan Edwards sat up nicely for Luke Morgan who was tackled in the air by fullback Frawley.
The Ospreys almost completed the turnaround in sensational fashion when Nagy and Edwards linked up on halfway and the fly half kicked through putting Jimmy O’Brien under serious pressure. Caelan Doris came to the rescue as he won a penalty minutes later.
But Leinster showed why they’re European Cup finalists when they showed great composure and speed to go over for a third try. This time Ross Byrne played a clever kick and Nagy failed to deal with the bounce leaving Jordan Larmour the task of scoring the easiest try he’s scored all season. Byrne was again successful with a lovely sideline conversion.
Leinster came close to securing the bonus point try before half time after Luke McGrath made a break after the Ospreys fumbled the ball. It looked like a certain try when they created an overlap, but Jordan Larmour couldn’t find any support and Leinster lost possession. The Ospreys took no chances from the scrum and kicked it out straight away as Leinster led the Ospreys by seven at half time.
But Leinster started the second half the way they started the first as Jason Jenkins went over for the fourth try. It came after a lovely, floated pass from Henshaw found O’Brien who beat a couple of poor tackles before giving it to the big second row who charged over. Once again, Byrne was flawless with his kicking.
Unfortunately for the Ospreys, they wasted a big chance to come back in the game whenDan Edwards kick to touch went a bit too far and gave possession back to Leinster who looked to attack on the left wing but Nagy came to the rescue for the Ospreys.
Jordan Larmour then got Leinster’s fifth in typical Larmour fashion as he used his quick feet to evade desperate Ospreys challenges. Robbie Henshaw’s initial line break set up the try and he had support either side, opting for his winger to grab his second of the game.
Try number six was scored by Jamie Osborne when Tommy O’Brien showed his pace to collect his own kick and unselfishly gave the ball to his centre to score an easy try as Leinster hit 40.
And try number seven soon followed when Ngatai hit a fine line from a line out from five metres. Boshoff couldn’t stop the 33-year-old, 1 capped All Black and Frawley added the extras as Leinster neared 50 points for the day.
It got worse for the Ospreys as Evardi Boshoff was sin binned for a deliberate knock on close to the Ospreys try line. Nagy was there to prevent a penalty try from being scored but Leinster exploited the space out wide, and Larmour got his hattrick. Frawley was unsuccessful with the conversion, the first miss of the game. This was the third consecutive game where the Ospreys went down a man as a result of a deliberate knock on.
And Leinster ended the game with another fine try as Larmour and Jimmy O’Brien linked up in midfield before the latter set up Tommy O’Brien with a clever kick and the replacement slid over for a try. Frawley took a quick conversion which sailed between the posts.
Leinster: 61
TRIES: 9 (J O’Brien 3’, Molony 10’, Larmour 28’, 55’ 77’, Jenkins 43’, Osborne 69’, Ngatai 74’, T O’Brien 80’)
CONVERSIONS: 8 (Byrne 4’, 11’, 29’, 44’, 56’, Frawley 70’, 75’, 80’)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Frawley 19’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Ciarán Frawley, 14. Jordan Larmour, 13. Jamie Osborne, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. Jimmy O’Brien, 10. Ross Byrne, 9. Luke McGrath, 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Rónan Kelleher, 3, Tadgh Furlong, 4. Jason Jenkins, 5. Ross Molony, 6. Ryan Baird, 7. Josh Van der Flier, 8. Caelan Doris
16. Dan Sheehan, 17. Michael Milne, 18. Tom Clarkson, 19. Jack Conan, 20. Scott Penny, 21. Jamison Gibson-Park, 22. Charlie Ngatai, 23. Tommy O’Brien
Ospreys: 14
TRIES: 2 (Watkin 14’, Penalty Try 19’)
CONVERSIONS: 2 (Edwards 15’, Penalty try 19’)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Boshoff 76’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Max Nagy, 14. Luke Morgan, 13. Owen Watkin, 12. Kieran Williams, 11. Keelan Giles, 10. Dan Edwards, 9. Reuben Morgan-Williams, 1. Nicky Smith, 2. Dewi Lake, 3. Rhys Henry, 4. James Ratti, 5. Huw Sutton, 6. Harri Deaves, 7. Justin Tipuric, 8. Morgan Morris.
16. Sam Parry, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Tom Botha, 19. Victor Sekekete, 20. Jac Morgan, 21. Luke Davies, 22. Jack Walsh, 23. Evardi Boshoff.
FIVE TALKING POINTS: LEINSTER 61-14 OSPREYS
- Leinster back to winning ways after two defeats in South Africa
Leinster got back to winning ways as they narrowly held on to defeat Northampton in the Champions Cup last weekend but got back to winning ways in the URC as they trashed the Ospreys in Dublin.
2. Jimmy O’Brien is back firing for the Dubliners
The Leinster winger had been out of action for a couple of months and made his return off the bench last weekend but made his first start of 2024 and put in a classy performance and took less than five minutes to score the opening try of the match.
3. Leinster close gap on Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow’s narrow defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria today means that the gap at the top of the URC table has been narrowed to just one points. Glasgow.
4. Ospreys drop to 11th with one home game remaining.
The Ospreys had battled hard for weeks to keep their play off dreams alive but back-to-back trashing’s against two of the league’s top sides means that Toby Booths men are eight points off a play off spot. A home game against the Dragons next should see them return to winning ways but it could be too late for them.
5. Jac Morgan returns to Ospreys Duties
After a lengthy spell on the sideline (like Jimmy O’Brien), the Ospreys and Wales captain Jac Morgan made his return to rugby. He played the last 20 minutes but Leinster put in a ruthless performance as they scored numerous tries in the last quarter of the game.