[Match Thread] Leinster v Ospreys 7.35

zAbbo

Game is live on BBC Two Wales and Setanta

Leinster: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald; I Nacewa, C Whitaker; R McCormac, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, capt, D Toner, C Jowett, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.
Replacements: C Healy, J Fogarty, M O'Kelly, S Keogh, S Jennings, C Keane, R Kearney.

Ospreys: Byrne; Bowe, A Bishop, D Bishop, Walker; Hook, Webb; D Jones, H Bennett, A Jones, AW Jones, I Evans, J Thomas, R Jones, Tandy.
Replacements: Shervington, P James, Gough, Tiatia, Wells, Biggar, Vaughton.

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

Previews:
BBC Rugby
IrishTimes

Ospreys missing Williams, while Leinster rotate the backline with Sexton out of the 22, and Necewa at 10.

RuggieBear

sexton is seemingly out with a neck injury...probably got it when he got crooked last week

tHE vAGGABOND

Thats some backline....

Barring injury I cant see Sexton or Darcy getting back into that backline tbh. I think Kearny will have a good go at Girve for the 15 shirt, but even he will have a fight on his hands to get into the team. Its great for Leinster but not so much for Ireland..

Cant wait to see O'Brian play a whole game, heard a lot about him and he has looked amazing in the brief sub appearance over the last couple of weeks.

Not sure about Toner, but he is a big lad and the more games he gets under his belt the better.

Zzippy

This could be a cracking game, two strong line ups, both teams looking to win the ML this year. Will have to set the video recorder as I'll be at the Sportsground...

Trojan

Looking forward to this one. Hey Zabbo, cheers for the nice summary.

redroar1942

Leinster's home form over the past three seasons has been mighty. I was impressed with the Ospreys largely second team winning in Glasgow last week though. I think Leinster have turned a corner this season, I can see them winning by two scores.

Never heard of this O'Brien kid, I'll be an interested spectator.

zAbbo

I think Rocky is going to be presentated at half time as well.

Real shame that Williams and Henson aren't available, I'd have loved to see them play.

Amazotheamazing

RuggieBear wrote: »

sexton is seemingly out with a neck injury...probably got it when he got crooked last week

I appreciate the pun Ruggie, even if the rest didn't acknowledge it.

Leinster should win, Henson is a big loss for the Ospreys, as is Williams and all their scrumhalves.

[Jackass]

redroar1942 wrote: »

Never heard of this O'Brien kid, I'll be an interested spectator.

Yeah look out for him, he's playing at 7 (think Jennings should have started at 6 instead of Jowitt He's gotten enough starts already)

Everything I've seen of him has been superb, and word from the Leinster camp, Alan Gafney in fact, is that this guy is already making a serious move to be first choice number 7. Only a few months out of the academy. That's how good he is.

Jilm

Great start to the game. This could be a cracker!

cruiserweight

[Jackass] wrote: »

Yeah look out for him, he's playing at 7 (think Jennings should have started at 6 instead of Jowitt He's gotten enough starts already)

Everything I've seen of him has been superb, and word from the Leinster camp, Alan Gafney in fact, is that this guy is already making a serious move to be first choice number 7. Only a few months out of the academy. That's how good he is.

He is looking good so far

EdgarAllenPoo

Why is there a Welsh ref in this match when it involves a Welsh team?

Refs need to be nuetral, that's one reason Magners will always be second to Heineken, poor organisation.

thetyreman

Noa at a tv lads can some one keep score on computer as much a possible///////////////////thanks

EdgarAllenPoo

Leinster 7 Ospreys 6 with the second half just about to start.

sickpuppy

I wish O Driscoll and Horgan would stop wasting posession by kicking it mindlessly away.

thetyreman

Thanks mate,will you keep me posted,and who scored what

cheers

P.C.

The ref seems to be blowing against Lienter a lot???

EdgarAllenPoo

10-6 to Leinster from a Dr. Phil penalty.

P.C.

10 - 6

Stev_o

This is beyond boring =/

P.C.

Leinster seem to be getting into this game a bit more.
Had a drop goal atempt, but just missed. On a good drive now, and just got a penalty.

P.C.

13 - 6

Leinster in a good attacking position again - but, just lost the ball.

P.C.

Gone to the TMO to see if its a try for Leinster.

Not sure, but I don't think it is a try.

P.C.

No try, 5m scrum to Ospery.

cruiserweight

Drop goal for Leinster, looks like no bonus point for the Ospreys

EdgarAllenPoo

Another drop goal from Nacewa. I wonder if Jackman's upswing in form will get him another look in to the Ireland set up.

cruiserweight

Another drop goal for Leinster. But a great try from Walker, conversion to come to get a bonus point

P.C.

Leinster 19 - Ospray 13

Final score.

EdgarAllenPoo

That was some poor game management at the end by Leinster.

il gatto

I expected a good game. I was wrong. That was a mess. Mistakes all over the place from both teams. No structure to the game. Owens was brutal. Worst I've ever seen him. Leinster were asleep at the end to allow Ospreys to get the bonus point.
Some positives for Leinster going forward ball in hand and Nacewa nicked a few drop goals. Overall, he didn't look like a 10 to me and his positional keeping was hit and miss. Jackman was immense, even the throwing.
Overall a disappointing match. Ospreys looked clueless. Leinster looked undercooked. A win is a win though.

thetyreman

a win is a win i suppose,just by going on this commentry(that wasnr very good)joke,none of the irish squad played out of there skins,except Jackman maybe,but i suppose its early days yet..


thanks for the commentry..

LostinBlanch

il gatto wrote: »

IOwens was brutal.

Like GDM said, a Welsh referee in a game where a Welsh team are playing. I'm surprised nobody checked if he wasn't wearing an Ospreys shirt under his refs one.

Jackz

Leinster were better with O' Kelly on the pitch.

Jilm

Well, that was a disappointing match in the end after a promising start.

Next weeks match should be an improvement :pac:

Crash

Referee was awful for both sides, to be honest surprised we didnt get blown off the pitch with the amount of hands in rucks that were blatantly obvious with a good linesman. need to watch that.

Amz

crash_000 wrote: »

Referee was awful for both sides, to be honest surprised we didnt get blown off the pitch with the amount of hands in rucks that were blatantly obvious with a good linesman. need to watch that.

They're assistant referees these days crash

EdgarAllenPoo

Well they don't seem to do much assisting in the northern hemisphere from the matches I've seen, except for Nigel Witehouse.

[Jackass]

Yeah Ref was very poor, worryingly, he'll be in charge of Leinster v Wasps.

I wouldn't suggest he's biased at all, just crap.

Very happy with the win, there was some hard edged rugby to be played and I think we did a good job of it. Will want to watch it back on the telly thought to see a few things, but Jackman is on fire. He must get a start for Ireland this November.

Fitzgerald again with a lovely try, great passing between himself and contepomi i think it was (can't remember).

Would also like to see the TMO try again as I was in north stand and couldn't see telly.

Very dissapointed we undid all our hard work in the end letting them in for a soft try. It's a shame they got the bonus point in the context of the performance, but hopefully that's a lesson learnt for the season, don't switch off until you're physically in the dressing room!!

Undecided on Nacewa at 10, didn't look comfortable imo. I'm starting to Contepomi might have to go in at 10 again?

P_1

How much injury time was played? Seemed like an absolute age from the North Stand.

Chant of the night:
"The referee's from Wales"
to the tune of
"The referee's a 'merchant banker'"

zAbbo

pithater1 wrote: »

How much injury time was played? Seemed like an absolute age from the North Stand.

Chant of the night:
"The referee's from Wales"
to the tune of
"The referee's a 'merchant banker'"

The stadium clock was out by about 8 minutes, the tv screen showed the setanta clock, which was more accurate.

Found it rather strange why people were roaring at players to kick it out, when there was at least 5minutes left of the tv clock.

Climate Expert

zAbbo wrote: »

The stadium clock was out by about 8 minutes, the tv screen showed the setanta clock, which was more accurate.

Found it rather strange why people were roaring at players to kick it out, when there was at least 5minutes left of the tv clock.

Where did the 8 minutes come from? I didn't remember that many stoppages. The first half he only played a few extra minutes over the stadium clock.

Kalashnikov_Kid

I read on rugbydump.com that Nacewa broke his arm and is out for 2 months. is this true?!?

Didnt think he played well at 10. Some of his kicking was real schoolboy stuff. Bring back Dr. Phil at 10 then I suppose?

Was generally impressed by Leinster's defence. With Munster flying high also, should be an interesting season.

RuggieBear

yeah broken arm. back in 10 weeks or so (hopefully just before castre at home). shame.

Kalashnikov_Kid

RuggieBear wrote: »

yeah broken arm. back in 10 weeks or so (hopefully just before castre at home). shame.

Dang. How did that happen? Possibly when he got flattened for Ospreys last minute try?

RuggieBear

yep that's what it looks like from the tv.he made a balls of the tackle and his arm took the full brunt of walker going straight thru it. He got up holding his arm.

Kalashnikov_Kid

Ah such a shame. Damn Nikki Walker!

Did anyone else think that, after viewing the tmo for the try not given to Ospreys, Horgan didnt actually ground the ball? It wasnt even picked up by BBCW commentary, but it looked very suspicious. To me the ball looked to have hit his forearm and bobble off his chest. Was a real turning point in the game.

zAbbo

Climate Expert wrote: »

Where did the 8 minutes come from? I didn't remember that many stoppages. The first half he only played a few extra minutes over the stadium clock.

TMO / injuries / stoppages etc. - the Stadium clock is normally out by a few minutes anyway

Downtime

GDM wrote: »

Why is there a Welsh ref in this match when it involves a Welsh team?

Refs need to be nuetral, that's one reason Magners will always be second to Heineken, poor organisation.

This was brought in last season as there were not enough Scottish referees to go around. It is certainily not the first time there has been a non neutral referee. The first was James Jones last year Leinster v Scarlets. Alan Lewis and Simon McDowell have both refereed irish teams in the ML already this season. I dont think it is a big issue and it makes sense.

Having said that Nigel owens looked as if he wanted to be elsewhere on Friday night. He had a shocker. His positioning was terrbile for much of the game and I doubt he broke a sweat as he walked everywhere.

bamboozle

first match of the season for me and was looking forward to seeing O'Brien & Tonar, Tonar was very poor while O'Brien showed a bit of niaviety carrying the ball into contact but he looked like he relished the rough and tumble, good attitude. Article by Hugh Farrelly in the indo on him said he was the same build as Leamy, he's much smaller than i expeceted.

McCormack looked pretty unfit.
great defence overall and i'm glad we let in that late try cause it will make defence even more focused for the visit of our Munster friends!

zAbbo

bamboozle wrote: »

McCormack looked pretty unfit.

Noticed that myself, and it was more evident when I watched the game on TV yesterday, he was walking around when he should have been getting involved in a ruck or getting a line.

In fairness, he has been out for a while, and would need to get match sharpness fairly quickly, as chances will be few and far between in the future.