FOLLOWING A FRUSTRATING spell on the sideline, Jimmy O’Brien is now feeling fresh and rejuvenated as Leinster aim to challenge on all fronts at the business end of the 2023/24 season.

Initially selected at full-back for the New Year’s Day clash against Ulster in the United Rugby Championship at the RDS, Jimmy O’Brien was ultimately a late withdrawal from the game and it was confirmed a week later that he was due to spend several months on the sideline with a neck injury. This ruled him out of Ireland’s successful defence of their Six Nations Championship crown and a plethora of provincial fixtures, but the Kildare native finally made his return off the bench in Leinster’s tense Champions Cup semi-final win over Northampton Saints at Croke Park the weekend before last.

He was subsequently named on the left-wing for the Blues’ comprehensive victory against Ospreys in Ballsbridge on Saturday and in addition to claiming a third-minute breakthrough try, O’Brien delivered an impressive all-round performance that helped him to secure a player of the match award.

“It was frustrating to miss out on European games, the Six Nations and stuff like that. Definitely. It was frustrating, but you can’t really do anything. There’s a timeline and you’re focused on trying to get back and, when you get back, trying to put your hand up for selection and try and play well,” O’Brien remarked after Saturday’s game.

“A lot of lads are carrying bangs from during the season. I’ve been doing that the last few years. I’m feeling very fresh, the shoulders feel good for once. There is that benefit. I just need to get up to match fitness and that 80 minutes helped. That’s the other side of the coin.”

Although they ultimately came away with a 61-14 bonus point victory that leaves them just a single point behind pace-setters Glasgow Warriors in the URC table, Leinster didn’t always have it their own way against the Ospreys in the Ballsbridge venue. Despite storming into a 14-0 lead with converted tries from O’Brien himself and Ross Molony, the hosts’ cushion had been wiped out by the end of the opening quarter.

Leo Cullen’s men were also temporarily reduced to 14 players as a result of Ciaran Frawley being sin-binned for his role in a 19th-minute penalty try for Ospreys. Yet Leinster eventually regained control with the first of three tries from O’Brien’s fellow winger Jordan Larmour and after bringing a 21-14 buffer into the dressing rooms, Leinster clinically registered 40 unanswered points on the resumption.

“They’re a good side. We talked about it all week that they’re going to put us under pressure. They put our exits under pressure especially, coming out in that first half. We weren’t that accurate getting out of our own half. We let them in and they took advantage of that. Frawls [Ciaran Frawley] getting yellow carded was a hard period to manage. He was unlucky, there was no malice in it.

“You have to manage that period, myself and Jordo [Jordan Larmour] talked about playing full-back and wing. We train sometimes with 13 on 15 to get used to that, to try and put yourself in the pressure. So when something like that happens in the game, you’re not too fazed.”

Considering his complete lack of on-field action in 2024 up to that point didn’t prevent him making the match day 23 for Northampton’s visit to GAA HQ at the beginning of the month, O’Brien will be confident of also featuring in the Champions Cup final showdown with Toulouse at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday week — particularly now that he has an extra 80 minutes under his belt.

Yet given the length of his absence – his previous appearance before the Northampton game was a Champions Cup pool stage encounter with Sale Sharks on 16 December of last year – O’Brien is also eager for a run-out against Ulster in the URC at Kingspan Stadium, Belfast this coming weekend.

“To be honest, I just want to play as much as I can at the moment. That’s the one thing I’m missing, game time. I’ve no issue, I’d love to play next weekend. Selection for the Champions Cup final is going to be tough. There are so many good players, you see the lads still injured at the moment,” O’Brien added.

“There are so many players stepping into their position and playing well at the moment, so it’s such a tough team to get into. No doubt whoever gets selected next week will play well. Hopefully I get selected and then turn the page to the Champions Cup final after that. Next weekend is huge for us at Ulster.”

Daire Walsh

Jordan Larmour scored a hat-trick of tries at the RDS last night as Leinster moved to within one point of Glasgow Warriors at the summit of the United Rugby Championship table with a clinical bonus-point victory at the expense of Ospreys.

Leading by just seven at the midway stage in the contest, Leinster amassed an impressive 40 points without reply after the restart — including a brace of finishes from Larmour to complement his opening score in the 27th minute of the first half.

Despite having a Champions Cup final to look forward to against Toulouse at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday week, Leinster’s head coach Leo Cullen picked a strong team for the visit of the Welsh region to Ballsbridge. The Wicklow native initially selected ten players that started their tense European semi-final triumph over Northampton Saints at Croke Park seven days earlier and this number increased to 11 when Josh van der Flier was drafted into the back row to replace Will Connors shortly before kick-off.

Should the eastern province manage to seal top spot in the standings at the end of the regular URC season, they would be guaranteed to have home advantage for each game they play in the knockout rounds of the competition. Glasgow remain in the driving seat after picking up two points away to the Bulls in Pretoria yesterday afternoon, but even though their arch rivals Munster are also firmly in the mix, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Leinster could yet claim first place in the final URC table.

Ronan Kelleher and Jimmy O’Brien were promoted to the first 15 after their appearances off the bench in the Northampton game and they combined to good effect before the latter raced in from 70 metres out for Leinster’s third-minute breakthrough try.

This was the perfect start for the Blues on a warm night in the capital and their lead was subsequently enhanced when Ross Molony capitalised on excellent approach work from Caelan Doris to power over for his first Leinster try since January 2022.

Ross Byrne added his second bonus strike of the evening to move Leinster 14 points clear, but this advantage was sensationally wiped out by the visitors before the opening quarter had fully elapsed. Firstly, outside centre Owen Watkin got Ospreys up and running with a converted try on 14 minutes after No 8 Morgan Morris had broken free from an attacking scrum. Fly half Dan Edwards then made no mistake from the straightforward conversion that followed this score and he was the creative force behind their equalising score moments later. His audacious cross-field kick towards the right wing landed in the arms of Luke Morgan and, with TMO Andrew McMenemy adjudging that Ciaran Frawley had tackled his opponent in the air beyond the Leinster line, a penalty try was awarded.

The Leinster full back was sent to the sin bin for this infraction, but his team-mates managed to regain momentum in his absence. When Ospreys full back Max Nagy failed to control a grubber kick by Byrne on 27 minutes, Larmour was on hand to supply the finishing touches for his seventh try of the season.

Byrne once again added the extras off the kicking tee and, while they came under pressure in the tail end of the opening period, Leinster ultimately brought a 21-14 cushion into the interval.

While the tie itself was still delicately poised, the hosts were nevertheless within sight of a bonus point upon the resumption. This is perhaps what fuelled Leinster’s explosive start to the second half, which was less than a minute old when they scored their fourth try of the proceedings.

Like his second-row partner Molony, South African native Jason Jenkins is set to bring his time at Leinster to a close in the coming weeks. It is anticipated the one-time South Africa international will have a big part to play in the business end of the season, however, and he burst over the Ospreys line after O’Brien had once again made significant metres in attack.

Cullen gradually started to alter his line-up as the third quarter progressed, but it was a pair of starters who linked up for Leinster’s fifth try in the 54th-minute. After finding space deep inside the opposition’s half, Robbie Henshaw picked out Larmour on the right-hand side and the elusive wing showed a clean pair of heels to the Ospreys defence before doubling his tally for the game.

Even though this effectively placed the final outcome beyond any doubt, Leinster were in no mood to drop their performance levels during the closing-quarter of a game that was played in front of 15,750 spectators.

Supplementing Larmour’s hat-trick score on 77 minutes — and six points from the boot of Frawley and Jamie Osborne, Charlie Nagatai and Tommy O’Brien also then crossed to round off a comprehensive victory for Leinster.

UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP Leinster 61 Ospreys 14 

Jordan Larmour bagged a hat-trick of tries at the RDS last night as Leinster moved to within one point of Glasgow Warriors at the summit of the United Rugby Championship table with a clinical bonus point victory over Ospreys.

Leinster 61

Ospreys 14

Daire Walsh reports from The RDS

JORDAN LARMOUR BAGGED a hat-trick of tries at the RDS last night as Leinster moved to within one point of Glasgow Warriors at the summit of the United Rugby Championship table with a clinical bonus-point victory at the expense of Ospreys.

Leading by just seven at the midway stage in the contest, Leinster amassed an impressive 40 points without reply after the restart – including a brace of finishes from Larmour to compliment his opening score on 27 minutes – to gain the maximum return from this fixture.

Despite having a Champions Cup final to look forward to against Toulouse at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a fortnight’s time, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen picked a strong team for the visit of the Welsh region to Ballsbridge.

The Wicklow native initially selected 10 players that started their tense European semi-final triumph over Northampton Saints at Croke Park seven days earlier and this number increased to 11 when Josh van der Flier was drafted into the back-row to replace Will Connors shortly before kick-off.

Rónan Kelleher and Jimmy O’Brien were promoted to the first 15 following their appearances off the bench in Croke Park seven days earlier and they combined to good effect before the latter raced home from 70 metres out for Leinster’s third-minute breakthrough try.

This was the perfect start for the Blues on a warm night in the capital and their lead was subsequently enhanced when Ross Molony capitalised on excellent approach work from Caelan Doris to power over for his first Leinster try since January 2022.

Ross Byrne added his second bonus strike of the evening to move Leinster 14 points clear, but this advantage was sensationally wiped out by the visitors before the opening quarter had elapsed. Firstly, outside centre Owen Watkin got Ospreys up and running on 14 minutes with a converted try after No 8 Morgan Morris had broken free from an attacking scrum.

Out-half Dan Edwards made no mistake from a straightforward conversion and he was the creative force behind their equalising score moments later.

His audacious crossfield kick towards the right-wing landed into the arms of Luke Morgan and with Ciaran Frawley adjudged to have tackled his opponent in the air beyond the Leinster line, a penalty try was awarded.

The Leinster full-back was sent to the sin-bin for this infraction, but his team-mates managed to regain momentum in his absence. When Ospreys full-back Max Nagy failed to control an awkward grubber kick by Byrne on 27 minutes, Larmour was on hand to supply the finishing touches for his seventh try of the season.

Byrne once again added the extras off the kicking tee and while they came under pressure in the tail end of the opening period, Leinster ultimately brought a 21-14 cushion into the interval.

While the tie itself was still delicately poised, the hosts were nevertheless within sight of a bonus point upon the resumption. This is perhaps what fuelled Leinster’s explosive start to the second half, which was less than a minute old when they bagged their fourth try of the proceedings.

Like his second-row partner Molony, South African native Jason Jenkins is set to bring his time at Leinster to a close in the coming weeks. It is anticipated the one-time Springbok international will have a big part to play in the business end of the season, however, and he burst over the Ospreys line after Jimmy O’Brien had once again made significant metres in attack.

Cullen gradually started to alter his line-up as the third-quarter progressed, but it was a brace of starters who shone brightest for Leinster’s fifth try in the 54th-minute. Robbie Henshaw picked out Larmour on the right hand-side after finding space deep inside into the Ospreys half and though he had a lot of work to do, the elusive winger showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition defence on his way to doubling his tally for the game.

Even though this effectively placed the final outcome beyond doubt, Leinster were in mood to drop their performances levels during the closing-quarter of a game that was played in front of 15,750 spectators.

Supplementing Larmour’s hat-trick score on 77 minutes – and six points from the boot of Frawley – Jamie Osborne, Charlie Nagatai and Tommy O’Brien also crossed over to round off a comprehensive victory for Leinster.

Leinster scorers:

Tries – Larmour [3], J O’Brien, Molony, Jenkins, Osborne, Ngatai, T O’Brien.

Conversions – R Byrne [5/5], Frawley [3/4]

Ospreys scorers:

Tries – Watkin, Penalty Try

Conversions: Dan Edwards [1/1]

LEINSTER: Ciaran Frawley; Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw (Tommy O’Brien ’58), Jimmy O’Brien; Ross Byrne (Charlie Ngatai ’58), Luke McGrath (Jamison Gibson-Park ’52); Andrew Porter (Michael Milne ’56), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan ‘52), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson ’56); Ross Molony (Jack Conan ’52), Jason Jenkins; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (Scott Penny ’71).

OSPREYS: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Owen Watkin, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Dan Edwards (Jack Walsh ’57) , Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith (Gareth Thomas ’52), Dewi Lake (Sam Parry ’57), Rhys Henry (Tom Botha ’52); James Ratti, Huw Sutton; Harri Deaves (Jac Morgan ’57), Justin Tipuric, Morgan Morris.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

HAVING BEEN ON the receiving end of some tough knockout defeats on the far side of the city last season, Leinster forward Ryan Baird was understandably pleased to be able to come out on the right end of a close battle with Northampton Saints at Croke Park last weekend.

Just seven days after playing the full 80 minutes of their 16-15 reversal to Munster at the semi-final stage of the United Rugby Championship in the Aviva Stadium, Baird featured off the bench in the final-quarter of Leinster’s loss to La Rochelle in a Champions Cup decider at the same venue on 20 May, 2023.

Ronan O’Gara’s Top 14 outfit came from 17 points behind to claim back-to-back European titles at the expense of the Irish province and it was almost a case of déjà vu in GAA HQ six days ago.

20-3 in front with just under an hour gone on the clock, Leinster were subsequently rocked by the concession of successive converted tries to George Hendy and Tom Seabrook. This opened up the possibility of Northampton pulling off a spectacular comeback victory, but despite going 37 minutes without registering a score, Baird and his Leinster colleagues eventually found their way over the line.

“I think it’s natural to feel the nerves, but to have been in that position where we have been on the other side, I was like, ‘I am not letting this f***ing happen again. We are not letting this f***ing happen again’. Go attack this game, go attack it now, these last few minutes,” Baird recalled at a media briefing in UCD earlier this week.

“They had that tap penalty, then we got a penalty and then we got the lineout. We were like, ‘Let’s go attack this, finish this and get into the final’. We didn’t go into our shells. We were like ‘No, we’re going to win this game’. We’re delighted to be in the final and credit to Northampton the way they fought back in the last 30 minutes.”

While he was asked on a number of occasions for his thoughts on the forthcoming Champions Cup showpiece against Toulouse at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in just over a fortnight’s time, Baird was reluctant to switch his focus away from Leinster’s URC bout with Ospreys at the RDS tomorrow evening.

Even though he acknowledges the perception of the Champions Cup being the more prestigious competition, the versatile Ireland international insisted Leinster will be approaching the URC with the same level of ambition.

Despite previously winning the Guinness Pro14 for four years on the bounce, the Blues haven’t tasted league success since it was rebranded as the United Rugby Championship ahead of the 2021/22 season.

Baird missed out their semi-final defeat at home to the Bulls at the end of that particular campaign – as well as the last-gasp loss to La Rochelle in another Champions Cup final in Marseille 13 days earlier – but he is as eager as anyone to make amends for two barren terms without a major trophy.

“Coming away trophy-less for the last two years is no bueno as they say in Spanish. Who doesn’t want to achieve the double? That’s our objective. We are in a league and we are in a cup and we want to win both.

“Losing the final of the Champions Cup or losing in the semi of the URC, both hurt as much because you put as much time into both competitions. One is perceived to be bigger, but the work that goes into both is equal. Therefore you want the same output, which is a trophy.”

Although there are expected to be some changes to his starting 15 from the one that saw off the challenge of Northampton, Leinster head Leo Cullen has stated he will be fielding strong line-outs for both tomorrow’s encounter against Ospreys (which will be named later on today) and next weekend’s URC clash with Ulster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.

Given the Northampton game represented his first appearance for Leinster since the Champions Cup quarter-final win over La Rochelle three weeks earlier, Baird is hungry for an immediate return to competitive fare.

“If I get to play this week, I’d be really excited because I get to build on momentum from last week. I’m not keeping the powder dry, I’d love to get out there again,” Baird added.

“I’m thinking, ‘How can I be a better player?’, forget the occasion, but ‘Can I get better this week? Can I get better next week?’ If I get to play this week it’s another opportunity to see what I’m like under pressure.

“We’re second in the table, we need to push to get back up top. People might be distracted by the Champions Cup, but there’s a hell of a lot on the line for us in the URC to get that top seed.”

Daire Walsh