Ospreys: Pro12 champions
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Ospreys pipped Leinster at the death to claim a dramatic 31-30 win in Sunday's RaboDirect PRO12 final at the RDS.
In his last game for Ospreys, former Wales wing Shane Williams scored the match-winning try in the 78th minute - duly converted by Dan Biggar - to help claim the spoils for the Welsh region in Dublin.
Both sides scored three tries, but the home side paid the price for a missed early penalty by Jonathan Sexton - a weak kick which proved the difference as Biggar's sole miss was a conversion, meaning he kicked 16 points to the Leinster fly-half's 15.
Leinster mostly paid the price for indiscipline though - Heinke van der Merwe and Nathan White both spending time in the bin - conceding two of three tries at points when they were a man short.
Ospreys have now won the 'Celtic' League twice in three seasons, having also beaten Leinster in the 2010 final.
The Welsh region went into the game on a six match winning streak, but they found themselves 17-9 down at half-time with Sean Cronin and Isa Nacewa going over for the hosts. Sexton also added a penalty while Biggar responded with three of his own for the visitors.
Despite two more three-pointers from Sexton in the second period, touchdowns from Ashley Beck and Williams saw the gap reduced to two points before Nacewa's second score seemingly sealed the victory.
But, after Biggar had kicked a fourth penalty, Williams went over for a converted try to deny Leinster a European and league double.
It was the Swansea-based outfit who opened the scoring thanks to a three-pointer from their fly-half. However, Sexton converted a penalty opportunity to level matters.
Biggar kicked a second from the tee, but it was the Irish province that looked the most threatening with ball in hand.
Having failed to secure the double last season, losing to arch-rivals Munster in the play-off final, Leinster seemed determined not to replicate that lacklustre performance. And Cronin went over for the first try of the match after a superb off-load from Brian O'Driscoll, Sexton converting, to forge them into the lead.
The visiting fly-half reduced the arrears with another successful penalty before Nacewa pounced on some slack Ospreys' defence to touch down straight from the restart.
Van der Merwe, in for the injured Cian Healy, was then sin-binned after repeated infringements in the scrum, but the home side held on until the break.
The Ospreys took advantage of the extra man two minutes into the second half when Beck crossed the whitewash.
However, their good work was undone when ill-discipline allowed Sexton to kick successive penalties and extend Leinster's advantage to 23-16.
Once again, the visitors hit back through a Williams try in his final game for the region, but Nacewa touched down to relieve the pressure.
Nathan White became the second player to be yellow carded for the Irish province and Biggar kicked the resultant penalty before Williams provided the perfect send-off.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Cronin, Nacewa 2
Cons: Sexton 3
Pen: Sexton 3
For Ospreys:
Tries: Beck, Williams 2
Cons: Biggar
Pens: Biggar 4
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Leo Cullen (c), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Cian Healy/Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Brad Thorn, 20 Dominic Ryan, 21 John Cooney, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 David Kearney.
Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (capt), 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 James King, 20 Tom Smith, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Comments
Kevin83 says...
Watched the game on telly yesterday and well done to the ospreys first of all and esspecially to a Great end to a fabulous career for Shane Williams. What a Player!!
I have never been angry while reading posts on this site but the accusations of "arrogance" and "unsporting" behavior in many comments on this article are unfounded, ridiculous outrageous and, in fact arrogant in themselves.
Leinster fans stayed in the ground to applaud the Ospreys as they collected the trophy but many seem to have missed that fact. The crowd was 100% rightly aggreived at what was without a doubt the worst refereeing performance I have seen in a long time.
Yes some of the poor decisions went against the Ospreys but in truth the majority were against Leinster.
The Ospreys were Constantly offside for the entire game.
The 7 MINUTE fiasco just before half time was pure guess work and when a decision was finally made he sin binned a HVM when it was the Ospreys Prop who dropped the bind.
The Breakdown was an absolute free for all. In the side, off feet, hands on the ground over the top all seem to be legal in Roman Poite's rule book. and just to make it clear THIS WAS HAPPENING TO BOTH TEAMS.
The last straw was the Nathan White sin bin. It was the worst decision of all and Poite was no more then 3 feet away and didn't see James bind on the arm. The fact that that was missed by both Roman Poite AND George Clancy(both within 10 feet of the scrum).
The IRB have to seriously consider a rethink on the scrum or our game, as yesterday's reffing fiasco prooved, will lean heavily to a farce.
WELL DONE THE OSPREYS!!!!
You didin't ref the game!
Posted 10:42 28th May 2012
leinsterblue says...
totally gutted after yesterday...Ospreys deserved the win - they were quicker up in their defensive line, exploited some bad defensive weaknesses on our part and reacted better to some rather odd officiating on the part of Poite...good to see Williams sign off on a high (even if it was at our expense) and I wish him the best for the future...
however, yesterday really highlighted what a farce the scrum has become.,.the five minutes of scrums at the end of the first half were bizarre and I felt that Poite should have been more decisive....if he felt we were infringeing that much he should have given the Ospreys a penalty try and that was that...instead he yellow cards Heinke and then 2 scrums later, gives us a penalty....IRB really need to review the scrum otherwise we end up like rugby league....
on another note, I felt, that as a Leinster fan on this site, I was damned if we won and damned if we didn't...the level of hatred levelled at us would have been roughly the same either through bitterness, or sumgness that we lost (and that has been amply highlighted by most of the posts here)...if folks really hate us that much, then for God's sake stop posting...but what is more worrying is that I think that this thread shows a level of anti-Irish feeling creeping into the site...just look at the posts during the world cup, six nations and anytime Leinster/Munster do well in the heineken cup and you will see the level of hatred against us a a rugby nation is growing....
Posted 10:24 28th May 2012
DaveJ says...
jontheref - Leinster fans were booing the atrocious refereeing at fulltime, as they did when poite went up to collect his medal. Which was well deserved IMO. 18,000 people couldn't have read the game wrong and poite got it right. Nobody boo'ed the Ospreys or Leinster, both were applauded by the Leinster fans afterwards when they did their approach to the crowd.
Posted 10:24 28th May 2012
sextons_on_fire says...
@pembs
Heineken Cups: Ireland 6 - 0 Wales
Not baaaaaaaaaad, eh? LOL hahahaa
Posted 09:46 28th May 2012
Sincero says...
@makemehappy.... I'm not having those accusations of poor sportsmanship. We clapped your players and fans off, gave a proper reception to Shane and A. Jones too... got some good photos with your boys and shook all the hands we could. Could you say the same would have happened if we'd pipped you to the post in the Liberty with the help of a hugely incompetent referee? Ha.... get real. You people can't even respect an opposition kicker. It'll be a cold day in hell before we'll be taking pointers on sportsmanship from your ilk. The deserved booing was solely reserved for Monsieur Poite, in case you were curious... but you weren't... you're just sniping. Cop on to yourself.
Well done to the Ospreys... played the referee and played some great rugby to boot... that's the game. (Hating this play-off system, though... said it 3 years ago when they wanted to reintroduce it, will say it again now. Winning a double in those conditions is close to impossible.... we've been the most consistent team over these three years and no league trophy... a league should be a league and a cup a cup! Damn money spinning...). Enjoy the celebrations. I know we are.
Posted 09:40 28th May 2012
blametheref says...
@ABLACK
What a laugh about how bad we are up here, for Leinster, key Irish players, Healy and O' Brien were missing leaving Leinster with limited options when it came to Poite's mad interpertations of the scrum (which was in fact predicted by rugby journalist, Peter O' Reilly), it was White from NZ and van der Merwe from SA who were yellow carded and prior to Thorn coming on Leinster were leading...It was Shane Williams, a Welsh player, who starred for the Ospreys...but don't worry I'm not blaming SH players for Leinster's loss, the fact is the European game up here is global and all embracing where the best possible players from anywhere in the world are sought and welcomed, but you don't seem to get that...
Posted 09:16 28th May 2012
jontheref says...
DaveJ
Ospreys off their feet?
It was Leinster in the Blue, Ospreys were in white.
The leinster captain, Cullen, spent most of the game on the floor, the rest of it trying to play in the Ospreys back line at ruck time.
Leinster incredible team, but Ospreys had too much on the day.
OK, Poite was neutral, even if both sides suffered from his refereeing and inconsistencies.
But why no neutral TJ's/AR's?
Two Irish on the touch, they gave no help at scrum time did they?
Saw to here the Leinster fans booing at the final whistle.
Posted 09:15 28th May 2012
jontheref says...
melkdave
Do you have a Sky satellite system?
If so, you can get S4C down with the regional TV programs, BBC NI, BBC Scotland.
My mate in the Midlands of England can get it, so you should be able to.
Posted 09:10 28th May 2012
sextons_on_fire says...
@pembs
Quite the Welsh troll, aren't we? hahaha You've clearly spent too many nights out in the field and not enough studying the rules of rugby hahahahaa BOOM. In order for a penalty try to be awarded, the scrum actually has to be moving forward...instead Paul James, like throughout the game, failed to get his bind and collapsed like a sack of coal...you had to rely upon Romain Poite's ineptitude to survive. Nathan White's sinbinning remains a mystery, even to Poite himself probably hahahahaaa Your ospreys didnt look too comfortable when Nacewa was running rings around you and yous were throwing hospital passes in your own in-goal area hahahaha
Posted 09:04 28th May 2012
pembs says...
@ J_JFK the ospreys won because they were the better side. If poite had reffed the game correctly leinster would have been down to 12 players and our glorious win would have been even more convincing. As it was we didn't play that well, if we had of played to our potential we would have put 50 on leinster
Posted 08:34 28th May 2012
J_HDK says...
James engages shoulders below hips(yet again)... gets a very low bind and pulls down the scrum...penalty to Leinster... yet Poite was standing right beside it and gave a penalty to Ospreys AND a yellow card to White? Mindboggling!
Ospreys scored 10 points during that yellow card.
@makemehappy
What are you talking about? There was no bloodbin sub.
If a prop is yellow carded or goes off injured and a scrum is called. A replacement prop in that position MUST come on. If there are no more specialist props available in that position it becomes an uncontested scrum.
When Van De Merwe was sin binned - a scrum was called and Jack McGrath had to come on so that there would be a specialist prop there. As a result McLaughlin went off for the duration.
When White was sin-binned it became an uncontested scrum because Ross was already injured and there were no more specialist props available to come on in that position
Oh and by the way.. a penalty try cannot be awarded in that situation if the ball isn't in the scrum.
No tip tackle; the player wasn't even brought through 120 degrees never mind 180.
The more you post the more you show your ignorance of the rules and the game.
Posted 07:04 28th May 2012
pontysurrey says...
Melk Dave - if there is a Welsh team involved and you can bear the Wesh commentary (!) then www.s4c.co.uk shows the game. Thought yesterday's match was a cracker.
Posted 07:00 28th May 2012
rico says...
Shane Williams will be missed - special player. Ryan Jones another great performance - class act. AWJ is another who put his hand up, but good descision for MoM as Isa Nacewa is sometimes something else - brilliant player. What a great Game of rugby and advert for an otherwise pretty dire PRO12 season, if each team played its first XV week in week out maybe the games would be like that all season.
It's all gone a bit quiet from the Leinster fans who were only too willing to share their views prior to the game, ah well 3 outta 3 for the Ospreys 2012.
Happy Days!
Posted 06:42 28th May 2012
andyb says...
Great finish to the season, exciting. Well done Ospreys. ThinkingGame...agree, way to over confident Irish. Shane...why is he retiring??? What a player!!! Pierredelot1, I think it's Wales that are touring Aus right, not Ireland???
Posted 02:14 28th May 2012
tha_mai says...
pierredelot1 - Ireland are headed to New Zealand, not Australia (that's Wales) for a three test series.
NZ is not facing a 'drought of decent props' as far as I know! And judging on the Super performances, don't expect Australia to be too bad this year either.
Posted 00:57 28th May 2012
ABlack says...
So much for all the various NH rugby experts( Stuart Barnes and many others) stating that Leinster are the best club side to ever play rugby in the NH competitions!! 7 days later they lose to an average Ospreys side.
Watching the Leinster v Ulster heineken cup game and now this game against Ospreys, Leinster wouldnt beat the top 8 -10 sides in the S15. Its that false sense of optimism and playing level ability of the NH competitions that counts against the 6N test sides when they play test rugby against NZ, SA, Aussie.
The jump in levels from NH club comps to Test rugby against the top 3 sides in TEST rugby ,is to great for the 6N test sides to aspire to... most of the time anyway.
The fact that so many of the best players in the NH club comps are Kiwis, SA, Aus players speaks for itself. Many of these guys are either not good enough or past being picked as test players for the NZ, SA, Aus test sides- except for Nick Evans, Brad Thorn the only exceptions in the NH at the moment.
Posted 23:47 27th May 2012
Sincero says...
Side note... Sextons_on_fire is quite clearly a Munster troll with non sense of humour and not enough neeps to snaffle or public spaces to invade with his unique perfume and bag of washing for the mammy. If he's one of the 2 eejits you touchy taffs are citing in being cocky, more fool you...
Posted 23:35 27th May 2012
melkdave says...
Well tried my best to watch this match online or tv and just couldnt find a link that didnt want to charge a fortune ,till the game was well and truely over lolCould anyone give me a link for next year please.As to Shane Williams what away to bow out of domestic rugby,2 tries in a final ,a true rugby legend ,I expect will talked about with such revarance as B.John and S.Edwards ect,by more than just welsh fans
Posted 23:15 27th May 2012
pierredelot1 says...
Just realised they're going to NZ. Oh dear, could be worse
Posted 22:21 27th May 2012
DaveJ says...
Have to say I though Poite was true to form - horribly inconsistent and had absolutely no handle or idea when it came to the scrum. Penalised the wrong side on many occasions at scrum time. Ospreys sat offside non stop for the first 60 mins, coming in the side, diving over the top, forward passes. All missed or ignored. Ospreys did not deserve to win that game, bad refereeing lost it for Leinster. That said Leinster were nowhere near impressive.
Posted 22:10 27th May 2012