Jordan Larmour scores three as Ireland stars power Leinster to an emphatic URC victory over Ospreys
Jordan Larmour of Leinster makes a run with the ball.
Leinster claimed a 61-14 victory over Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship clash at the RDS Arena on Saturday.
The Irish province closed the gap on league leaders, the Glasgow Warriors, with the win moving them within just one log point of Franco Smith’s side.
Jimmy O’Brien, Ross Molony, Jordan Larmour (3), Jason Jenkins, Jamie Osborne, and Charlie Ngatai all claimed tries for Leinster, with Ross Byrne adding five conversions and Ciaran Frawley adding two.
Leinster’s second-half performance bloated the scoreline with Ospreys only trailing 21-14 at the break thanks to Owen Watkin’s try and a penalty try but the Welsh side were unable to add to their tally in the second forty.
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Ospreys had been level at 14-14 midway through the first half following an Owen Watkin effort and a penalty try, but they were brushed aside after that to drop one place to 11th in the table.
Player of the match O’Brien opened the scoring inside the opening three minutes, evading Luke Morgan’s tackle to surge over from the left wing.
Ross Byrne converted and did likewise in the 11th minute after second-row Molony celebrated his 30th birthday with a well-taken score from close range.
Nonetheless, Ospreys fired back impressively when Morgan Morris linked with Watkin off a scrum, and the centre cut inside both Osborne and Josh van der Flier for a slick seven-pointer.
The Welsh side were level by the 18th minute, as Dan Edwards dangled a cross-field kick out to Morgan in the right corner. He was tackled in the air by Frawley, leading to a yellow card and a penalty try.
Leinster retook the lead in the 27th minute when Max Nagy failed to deal with a clever Byrne kick, and Larmour swooped in to ground the ball, and the home side never looked back.
Ominously, Jenkins fended off Morgan to score inside a minute of the restart after half-tome, and Byrne supplied his fourth successful conversion.
By the hour mark, replacement Jamison Gibson-Park, captain Caelan Doris and Robbie Henshaw all contributed to a pacy attack that netted Larmour’s second try out wide.
Even when the ball broke for Keelan Giles, he could not connect with Jack Walsh as Ospreys failed to turn the second-half tide.
In contrast, Leinster were clinical with their possession, Tommy O’Brien collecting his own kick through before passing for Osborne to dot down.
Ngatai then broke a tackle to cross from fellow replacement Scott Penny’s pass as the Leinster tries kept coming.
Evardi Boshoff saw yellow late on for a deliberate knock-on to add to the Welsh side’s problems, and Gibson-Park flung the ball wide for Larmour to bring the province past the half-century mark.
Full-back Frawley finished with three successful conversions, including the final one after Tommy O’Brien had chased down Jimmy O’Brien’s kick to get on the scoresheet.
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Leinster v Ospreys
Leinster: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Will Connors, 6 Ryan Baird , 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Jack Conan, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Charlie Ngatai, 23 Tommy O’Brien
Ospreys: 15 Max Nagy, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Harri Deaves, 5 Huw Sutton, 4 James Ratti, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Victor Sekekete, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Jack Walsh, 23 Evardi Boshoff
Venue: RDS Arena, Dublin
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (20:35 ITA & SA)
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Keane Davison (IRFU), Oisin Quinn (IRFU)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (IRFU)
Broadcasters: TG4, S4C, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv