Match Photos: http://www.rugbypicture.co.uk/LeinCon/LeiConn.htm

by ColinH

Another frustrating night of missed kicks and opportunities saw Connacht lose 29-9 to Leinster at their RDS ground. After suffering a masterful display of classic clichés regarding Connacht from the Setanta crew the kickoff couldn't come quickly enough. Tim Donnelly kicked off for Connacht, for whom Andrew Farley an injury doubt until today started; and another earlier doubt flanker Ray Ofisa was on the bench.

Connacht started very brightly and worked hard to earn lots of early possession, but displayed a seriously worrying lack of decisiveness going forward against strong Leinster defence. After six minutes play Connacht were awarded a penalty for Leinster hands in the ruck. Despite a good position Donnelly pulled the kick to the left of the uprights. Despite the earlier miss, Donnelly kicked Connacht into a deserved lead after eight minutes after Leo Cullen was deemed offside after a Connacht lineout and ruck.

Leinster 0 -3 Connacht

However from the restart Connacht put themselves under serious pressure as they allowed Leinster to recover the kick, and after some quick recycling D'Arcy drove over the line but good cover defence keeps him from grounding the ball. From the resultant Leinster scrum No.8 Heaslip drove off the back and from the ensuing ruck Leinster attacked wide through wing Luke Fitzgerald who was unceremoniously double tackled by Duffy and Treviranus into touch.

After a further period of possession to Leinster, some wonderful scrambling defence forced a Leinster turnover. However blood replacement scrumhalf O'Loughlin tried to breakout and was caught in the tackle on halfway and gave away a penalty for not releasing.  Having opted to run the penalty after a few phases Leinster were awarded another penalty closer in for offside and Leinster were now level thanks to Warner's kick. 

Leinster 3 -3 Connacht

Connacht entered their best phase of the game and after another good turnover, a break by O'Connor and good support play brought them to within five metres of the Leinster line and truthfully Connacht should have eked out a try from this possession. Leinster were again forced to slow the ball down and Connacht were awarded a penalty kick which Donnelly again missed.

Three minutes later Donnelly had the opportunity to redeem himself after a great catch by Farley under pressure form the Leinster forwards. Connacht countered which forced Leinster offside at the breakdown this time Donnelly made no mistake.

 Leinster 3 -6 Connacht

Again from the kick-off Connacht conceded a needless penalty when after poor discipline from No.8 John Muldoon saw him rightly adjudged to be offside, as he rushed out to stop Leinster moving the ball wide. Warner was again on target for the Blues to level the scores.

Leinster 6 -6 Connacht

Despite starting with new signing Ollie LeRoux the Connacht scrum looked strong and dealt comfortably with the Leinster eight in the set piece. In possession Leinster were looking to get the ball wide but Connacht managed repeatedly to stifle their movement.

With ten minutes left until half time a break by Gordon D'Arcy was closed down by the defence, however Shane Horgan grubber kicked the ball deep forcing the dithering cover player Conor McPhillips to kick the ball dead. Connacht forced another turnover from the scrum after another Heaslip charge, but a poor kick saw Girvan Dempsey charge up-field but he ran into a massive tackle from Johnny O'Connor who stays on his feet in tackle and forces penalty against Dempsey for not releasing.

After several phases of quick attack the ball is worked back by McPhillips to Donnely who drills a low drop goal to put Connacht back into the lead for the third time.

Leinster 6 -9 Connacht

Another great turnover in overtime gave Connacht the chance to move ball wide, with a possible overlap. John Muldoon made a hash of the pass to McCarthy with Matthews waiting in space to strike.

Half - Time: 

Early in the second half a deep kick from O'Driscoll runs into touch inside 22. A very throw-in by Fogarty gives Leinster scrum. From this position constant Leinster pressure is rewarded as O'Connor gets fooled into coming offside at ruck and Warner kicks Leinster level or the third time.

Leinster 9 -9 Connacht

Ten minutes in to the second half, and Swift and Flavin arrive on for Connacht to replace Gannon and Fogarty. And game sees a long period of Connacht possession remarkable only for the aimlessness of the attack. Connacht are not helped by the very poor refereeing of the breakdown by Peter Fitzgibbon, Leinster seem to come through offside at will. Yet another desperately poor refereeing display (from the same referee who sent two Connacht players to the bin in the recent ML match against Cardiff). Last week he was refereeing an AIL Div 1 match, but even that looks a level too high.

Some four minute later Connacht are awarded another penalty as Leinster stray offside again at a lineout, a third miss by Donnelly is a forewarning of things to come...

Inside three minutes if the miss the referee warns Leinster about offside as they support a kick into the Connacht half, and to add insult to injury he then penalises Connacht for the same offence, Warner kicked Leinster into an undeserved lead.

 Leinster 12 -9 Connacht

Connacht now began to unravel as O'Connor stupidly gives away another easy three pointer in front of the post for offside. Easy as you like for the Leinster fly-half as they ease six points clear.

Leinster 15 -9 Connacht

With Connacht desperate to get back into the game they pressed and were awarded penalty, however an extremely poor kick from hand sees Donnelly kick go dead and Leinster were let off the hook again.

On seventy minutes, from a deep  kick from O'Driscoll, Duffy inexplicably tries to run back and Connacht are forced to kick, directly to Fitzgerald who ran between tired forwards and found D'Arcy who ran in unopposed to score the first try. Warner kicked the conversion and puts Leinster almost out of sight.

Leinster 22 -9 Connacht

As the clock runs down Leinster got the ball wide and D'Arcy had a ridiculously easy run in for their (and his) second try, although there was more than a hint that D'Arcy had hurdled the attempted tackle of full back Duffy. Warner sticks over the easy conversion and the game clock runs down.

Final Score: Leinster 29 -9 Connacht

Review:

Connacht will wonder if three missed penalty kicks from quite straightforward positions in the first half would have made a difference to the result., they would certainly have kept the pressure on the home team.  Overall a poor performance from the Connacht half backs, they never applied the control to the game that was required and never really got the outside backs moving at any stage.

Connacht MOM: Keith Matthews

Always looking to get involved and made a few timely interventions as Leinster pressed hard for the Connacht line, he was really up for this game and performed well despite a blood injury early on in the game.

Leinster: 15. Girvan Dempsey,   14. Shane Horgan,   13. Brian O'Driscoll,   12. Gordon D'Arcy,   11. Luke Fitzgerald,   10. Christian Warner,   9. Chris Whitaker,   1. Ollie Le Roux,   2. Bernard Jackman,   3. Stan Wright,   4. Leo Cullen,   5. Malcolm O'Kelly,   6. Stephen Keogh,   7. Keith Gleeson,   8. Jamie Heaslip.  

Replacements: 16. Brian Blaney,   17. Juan Francisco Gomez,   18. Cameron Jowitt,   19. Shane Jennings,   20. Cillian Willis,   21. Jonathan Sexton,   22. Rob Kearney.   

Connacht Rugby: 15. Gavin Duffy,   14. Ofisa Treviranus,   13. Mel Deane,   12. Aidan Wynne,   11. Keith Matthews,   10. Tim Donnelly,   9. Conor McPhillips,   1. Brett Wilkinson,   2. John Fogarty,   3. Robbie Morris,   4. David Gannon,   5. Andrew Farley,   6. Mike McCarthy,   7. Jonny O'Connor,  8. John Muldoon.  

Replacements: 16. Adrian Flavin,   17. Brian McGovern,   18. Michael Swift,   19. Ray Ofisa Treviranus,   20. Conor O'Loughlin,   21. Peter Durcan,   22. Darren Yapp.