I said that Brian O' Driscoll was a central cog in the Leinster team but he certainly wasn't missed on Sunday. Eoin O' Malley stepped up to the mark and stood his ground as the number 13 for Leinster going over the line not once but twice for the boys in blue. The game opened with a penalty awarded to the Warriors against the Leinster scrum with Duncan Weir putting the first three points on the board with a belter of a kick.
Their lead was short lived however, Sexton made a sweet little kick to Nacewa, the little Fijian then pops it to the beautiful Kearney who dives over the line for an early try, Sexton converts and its now 7-3. Minutes later, Leinster earn themselves a penalty from a maul which Sexton misses, I'm pretty sure after this the whole crowd were thinking "please God, let Jonny have a good game!"
My reckoning is that the RDS's prayers were answered, another penalty comes our boys' way, and this time the foot of Jonny puts another three points on the board, 10-3. Punishment came when Toner is sent to the sin-bin, I always get nervy when a player is sent off, a player down for ten minutes is like losing a limb, although Glasgow didn't seem to take advantage of this, Weir did convert the penalty to make the score 10-6, however the next ten minutes were to see that a new centre saviour had been born and his name is Eoin O'Malley...
A mistake by Glasgow give Leinster possession, Sexton makes a quick ball to O'Malley who sneaks in under the posts, J10 converts it to make the score 17-6. But hold on a minute, O'Malley isn't finished just yet, if there's one way to silence the critics (including myself), it's to score a try in the shirt of Brian O'Driscoll, if there's one way to stun them and give them the finger it's to score a second try approx. seven minutes later while you're a man down, an offload from the Dorce sees O'Malley under the posts and Sexton converts to make it 24-6.
Glasgow are given an opportunily when they're awarded a penalty and opt for a lineout. The ball is turned over by Leinster who gain metres away from their own line, a mistake by Glasgow being offside during a ruck costs them dearly, Sexton opts to kick for a lineout and the result sees D'Arcy go over the line for a try, delighted I must say, it's good to see Dorce play well again, Sexton converts again and the HT score is 31-6, cheeky bonus point in the bag!
Glasgow set the tempo with fire (or possibly the haggis they had for breakfast) in their bellies for the second half only to be cut short by a forward pass, the penalties start to go in their way as both Sean Cronin and Cian Healy, who had been brought on for van der Merwe are punished, Glasgow opt for a scrum, Wilson is just short of the line for Glasgow but the strong Leinster defence hold him off before giving away yet another penalty.
Glasgow drove on but the whistle blows and the Leinster boys get a penalty for their efforts. Leinster make more changes in the second half, but still no score from either side, a far cry from the first half. After more scrappy play from both sides, a try is given to Glasgow for their poor efforts, Pyrgos gets under the posts and is converted to make the score 31-13.
A final try from Boss (obviously his magic powers weren't concealed in his mullet after all) which is converted by Madigan cancels out the try by Glasgow and finishes the match with a final score of 38-13, job done. It really was a one half wonder but with 5 points taken from this game, do we really care?! ;)
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Still think O'Malley has a lot to prove before taking over the reins from O'Driscoll, but great performance all the same.
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