Fourteen points: Matthew Morgan
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Fourteen points from the boot of fly-half Matthew Morgan helped the Ospreys defeat Leinster 19-10 in a rematch of last term's PRO12 final.
The champions battled back from a one point half-time deficit, and a ten minute period in the second half down to 14 men, to beat Leinster for their fifth straight victory in the competition.
Ospreys introduced Matthew Dwyer at hooker for his debut, and Lloyd Peers in the second-row started his first game at this level. Leinster meanwhile, made wholesale changes to their backline, with Andrew Goodman making his debut at outside centre, while Rhys Ruddock made his first appearance of the season at 6.
The Irish side were on the attack from the start, with Ian Madigan getting them on the scoreboard with a penalty goal after only four minutes. Leo Auva'a pounced on a blocked Ospreys kick to touch down for the visitors on eight minutes, with referee John Lacey needing assistance from the TMO. With Madigan adding the extras, it was 10-0.
But Ospreys came back, and three Morgan penalties made it 10-9 to Leinster at the break.
Duncan Jones saw a card after the restart, so with the extra man, Leinster turned the screw.
Sam Lewis made way for another home debutant, Marc Thomas, during Jones's absence. Morgan had spurned the opportunity to take the lead for the Ospreys, but his penalty kick just before Jones' sin-binning went wide of the posts at Liberty Stadium.
An error-strewn period saw Leinster make no headway with the extra man, and it was Eli Walker who took advantage of handling errors by the Irish side. He put the Ospreys in front before numerical parity was restored, taking advantage of a pass from Richard Fussell, who had made a great break through Leinster's defensive line. Walker did the rest, and Morgan's conversion gave the home side a 16-10 lead, as the game entered the final quarter.
Man of the match Fussell rounded off a perfect day, making his 100th appearance in the competition. Victory was secured by Morgan's drop-goal five minutes from time, to put daylight between the sides, for Ospreys' eighth consecutive win against Leinster.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Try: Walker
Con: Morgan
Pen: Morgan 3
Drop: Morgan
For Leinster:
Try: Auva'a
Con: Madigan
Pen: Madigan
Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Matthew Morgan, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 George Stowers, 5 Jonathan Thomas (c), 4 Lloyd Peers, 3 Joe Rees, 2 Matthew Dwyer, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements: 16 Arthur Ellis, 17 Marc Thomas, 18 Daniel Suter, 19 James King, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Jonathan Spratt, 23 Ross Jones.
Leinster: 15 David Kearney, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Brendan Macken, 12 Andrew Goodman, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Leo Auva'a, 7 Shane Jennings (c), 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Damian Browne, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Thomas Sexton, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Ben Marshall, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 John Cooney, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Sam Coghlan-Murray.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Neil Hennessy (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Comments
The_Dange says...
@black47 They have no Indian Sign over Ulster you'll find.
Posted 22:13 08th November 2012
makemehappy says...
@3in4 - What??? Talk sense please. I'm me, and not someone else LOL. I don't think the Irish teams are as bad as they used to be at cheating and to be honest, I'm harsh on the Ospreys - would have sent Adam off a few weeks ago for a second yellow cardable offence. So sorry you're talking drivel.
Obviously you don't appreciate people see different things in a game (I do) which was my main point. Can't imagine any sane person thinking that indicates I'm grumpy. I'm actually quite happy - you can remind me why, by reminding me who won the match if you like!!
Posted 17:13 05th November 2012
jontheref says...
Devin Toner,
one thing he has in his favour, despite his size, and being the wrong side of the breakdown repeatedly, he is invisible!
rarely penalised.
I thought Lacey was consistent, which israre at this level.
Didn't like his interpretation of advantage, but he as consistent with it.
Scrums?
Watched Barnes do Glaws Quins, Quins prop using his hand o the ground to stay up, 3 feet from barnes, (he was that side of the scrum), ignored it, no PK.
Other times no empathy for scrum going down, PK.
No consistency. In that way Lacey was better.
Ospreys doa lot off the ball, a lot illegally, but so do the other teams.
leinster were slow getting back after going to ground, denying the quick ball to that side.
They knew what they could get away with from Lacey, and played to it.
Posted 14:58 05th November 2012
3in4 says...
@makemehappy / new_j4a / A few other pseudonyms, no doubt
Poor Ospreys, they are such paragons of fair play (Go off our feet? Rush up from an offside position? What drivel!!!) Yet every week they must fight against these ruthless cheating Irishmen and anti-Welsh referees...who never seem to let the cheating Irishmen win, though. Strange, that.
Cheer up, grumpy-boots.
Posted 14:17 05th November 2012
makemehappy says...
@J_HDK - interesting your belief the Ospreys were offside all the time, as I thought they held the line well. I didn't like Leinster playing the ball on the floorand being offside on many occasions. Guess we see different things.
I agree the scrum was purely refereed. At least it demonstrates the opposite of what has happened in previous years - ie a dominant Ospreys scrum, which rarely got rewarded.
Posted 13:24 05th November 2012
black47 says...
Ospreys definitely have the indian sign over the irish provinces at the moment. Wonder if they can transfer that form to the heineken cup and win it?
Feel a bit sorry for Devin Toner. He just doesn't seem to able to build up his beanpole frame enough to crash through tackles and make the hard yards. it's not for lack of effort but it's just not happening for him
Posted 11:32 05th November 2012
J_HDK says...
Awful conditions, awful play and horrific refereeing. NO help from linesmen. TMO blind.
Leinster Try should not have been awarded. Clear knock on
Ospreys consistently interfering with play in an offside position from almost every breakdown.
Two yellow cards should have been given on both sides.
Not one lineout was straight in the first half.
Ospreys scrums was smashed several times inside their own 22, Yet no penalty (or penalty advantage) provided
So much was missed, cannot honestly say what the score could/should have been
Posted 10:31 05th November 2012
BODsGODmisspelt says...
That was not a Leinster try, pretty obvious it was knocked on, but because it was outside the try line it couldnt be given as a knock on i.e. knocked on before the line and TMO can only rule on action within the try line.
Fionn Carr is not good enough for this side simple as. Butchered a gift opportunity in the first 10 that was unforgiveable.
I thought Reid was unlucky to lose out on a starting place ahead of Goodman. I know he's a ten, but he gets some amount of line breaks at 12
Posted 10:24 05th November 2012
jontheref says...
Dr Death,
My excuse is I was at the other end of the ground!
:-)
Manifestly?
Big word for this forum!
Still, the facts were there for anyone to see on the TV.
Manifest or not!
I was always wary of Leinster, as they certainly had more inventiveness in the backs and forwards first half.
Try or not try, Ospreys palyed themselves into that position, and leinster had two there whocould have scored.
The conditions were terrible, both teams played well in the conditions.
Posted 09:49 05th November 2012
DrDeath says...
@jontheref
you slightly weaken your detailed destruction of Mr Whitehouse's decision to award Leinster their try by manifestly failing to notice that the number 8 scored and not a prop!
I suggest he took a better look at it than you did!!
Generally awful performance by Leinster.
Posted 09:21 05th November 2012
jontheref says...
Strong performance from the Ospreys reserves.
I've seen teams fold at 10-0 down, but they kept playing, and were unlucky not to have had a bigger winning margin.
How Whitehouse (TMO) could have given the Leinster try is a mystery, prop pushes it forwrad, not controlling the ball until over the line, so two or three knock ons, ignored, until he finally gets control.
If this is because of the protocol, time to cahnge it, as it stinks!
Usually the TJ's (ARs) even up the fact the ref is from one of the teams nation, but both the Welsh TJ's were incompetant at best!
Both indicating touch for the wrong team, and gave Lacey very little help.
Posted 23:32 04th November 2012
makemehappy says...
Well you can't arge with that result.
Leinster did dominate in the scrum, but hardly surprising since the Ospreys have lost (internationals and people leaving) 5 international props.
Discounting the scrum, Leinster were awful - though perhaps not as bad as the ref. The first Leinster penalty was a joke (ball is available and knocked on, isn't a penalty). Their only 'real' points were a gift. How they didn't have 2 yellow cards was hard to fathom. How did the ref think Duncan should have had one. Apparently diving on a loose ball after a tackle is deemed "coming in at the side of a ruck" by this idiot. What a joke.
Well done Ospreys. Different class to Leinster tonight.
Posted 22:37 04th November 2012
leinster_goy says...
some truly appalling decision-making from Leinster in this game. when a scrum is marching forward, away from home, in poor conditions...why pick the ball up?? pure ments
strong performances by Shaft and Hagers, but apart from that, the lack of experience was all too obvious
Posted 18:11 04th November 2012
melkdave says...
Game went as i expected ,Leinster having the edge in the forwards ,but not able to capialise on it.Seems to be a regular occurance for them this season.Both sides did well though ,in bad conditions and tried to play rugby perhaps tried a tad to much TBH.Anyway the time of the irish clubs picking up alot of wins in the league with their B side looks to be well antruely over ,thank god imo it was devaluing the Pro12 league ,and sortchanging fans in someway .
Posted 17:55 04th November 2012