Leinster 15 Opsreys 10: CREDIT WENT in equal measure to home team and crowd alike at the RDS last night. On a foul night, an attendance of 14,876 (which for once looked about right) braved the elements and noisily stuck with their team through to the end of a sleeves-rolled-up win. Sure enough, it was no classic but the largely unerring boot of Jonathan Sexton deservedly steered Leinster to an eighth home win from eight competitive games this season. The RDS has become quite a fortress.

In the process, they gained a modicum of revenge for their only defeat in their last 22 home league games and moved to second in the table, six points adrift of Munster.

A wet ball and pitch limited the score for strike runners against two well drilled defences, so Leinster were indebted to Sexton landing five kicks from six.

By contrast, and ala the Barmy Army much to the crowd’s increasing amusement, Dan Biggar had a Mitchell Johnson night, spraying his penalties off to the left and off to the right as he landed just two from seven.

On a big night for several home players, Luke Fitzgerald had an edgy start with a missed tackle and a couple of poor kicks in the second half, but increasingly grew into the game when hitting the line well and using his footwork.

Devin Toner did not have an especially distinguished night, and almost certainly didn’t do enough to dislodge the influential Nathan Hines. But the scrum went well, both with Cian Healy in the first half and Heinke van der Meuwe in the second.

On a night dominated by Nigel Owens’ whistle, that the Ospreys are one of the most heavily penalised sides around is not hard to see why given their blitz defence flirts repeatedly with the offside line, while their spoiling at the breakdown also takes the laws to limit with regard to going off their feet.

Although the heavy pre-match rain relented mid-way through the first half, the sodden conditions, coupled with a swirling breeze and a biting cold, demanded care and attention. Neither side dared go beyond the middle of the lineout, with Leinster often content to go to the front and set up midfield targets.

Nor were either side inclined to play too much rugby in their own territory, in the first half especially, preferring instead to utilise the two excellent kicking games of Sexton and Biggar.

Whereas Leinster regarded the deck as their friend when going into contact, the Ospreys were more prepared to risk offloads in the tackle. As the evening progressed, though, Leinster showed a willingness to bring Luke Fitzgerald into the line and go wide off set scrum moves from their own half.

The importance of restarts was underlined from literally the kick-off which, perhaps technically isn’t a restart. In any event, though, Fergus McFadden gathered it in, Eoin Reddan’s box kick went out on the full, and when Leinster were then offside Biggar opened the scoring.

Shane Horgan brilliantly chased down and leaped to catch Sexton’s hanging restart, and a couple of recycles later Ryan Jones came through too early on Reddan for Sexton to level the scores. A superb crossfield kick by Sexton and Cullen’s lineout steal had Leinster hammering away. Devin Toner was sent through one gap only to be caught around the ankles by Biggar, and after Sexton, Brian O’Driscoll and Mike Ross were held up short, Sexton landed a penalty for offside.

Gradually though, the counter-rucking and defensive line speed of the Ospreys extracted much of the rhythm from Leinster’s game. When Toner knocked on and Leinster were harshly pinged for an early engagement, Rhys Webb tapped and went only to lose the ball when tackled by Fitzgerald.

Curiously, though, from a strong defensive scrum, Heaslip picked off the base and when Ian Evans and Webb combined to charge down Reddan’s ensuing box kick, the lock’s deflection then falling in the in-goal area for Justin Tipuric to pounce for the try. Biggar converted.

The Ospreys’ confidence grew as they camped in the Leinster half and patiently probed through the phases. It required a big scrum to get them out of one hole, and a sharp break by Reddan relieved more pressure.

In between, Healy was pinged for not rolling away after a muscular steal by Ross, though the penalised prop actually needed treatment for an injury before departing at half-time.

Bizarrely, and much to the crowd’s amusement, Biggar miscued the penalty from under the posts off the underside of the bar in probably the worst miss of his fledgling career.

Leinster worked their way upfield, and when Craig Mitchell’s lazy run was penalised, Sexton ended the half with a 40-metre penalty.

After the restart both Ospreys locks went off their feet fairly blatantly, and Owens issued a warning to the Ospreys captain, Tipuric, while, just as pertinently, Sexton eased Leinster in front with another sweetly struck penalty from 40 metres-plus.

By contrast, Biggar’s radar was affected by that glaring first-half miss, as he struck the post and slightly hooked a couple of penalties wide, before Sexton atoned for his first miss of the night from about 45 metres when landing one from similar range after Rhys Webb chucked the ball over the advertising hoarding to delay a quick throw. As the contest degenerated into the Nigel Owens show and a barrage of penalties, and undeterred, Biggar confidently came back for more, only to miss twice again from 47 metres and wide to the right.

SCORING SEQUENCE:3 mins Biggar pen 0-3; 5: Sexton pen 3-3; 11: Sexton pen 6-3; 16: Tipuric try, Biggar con 6-10; 40: Sexton pen 9-10; (half-time 9-10); 49: Sexton pen 12-10; 58: Sexton pen 15-10.

LEINSTER:L Fitzgerald; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, F McFadden; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, L Cullen (capt), D Toner, D Ryan, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: H van der Merwe for Healy (half-time), N Hines for Cullen (57 mins), R Ruddock for Heaslip (63 mins), I Boss for Reddan (67 mins), I Nacewa for Sexton (79 mins). Not used: J Harris-Wright, C Newland, I Madigan.

OSPREYS:B Davies; N Walker, S Parker, A Beck, R Fussell; D Biggar, R Webb; D Jones, H Bennett, C Mitchell, I Gough, I Evans, T Smith, J Tipuric (Capt), R Jones. Replacements: R Bevington for D Jones (51 mins), C Griffiths for Mitchell (59 mins), M Davies for Bennett (63 mins), J Nutbrown for Webb (63 mins), J Goode for Evans, J Thomas for Smith (both 70 mins). Not used: G Owen, T Prydie.

Referee:Nigel Owens (Wales).