Leinster made it ten wins from ten in all competitions this season with a hard-fought 20-12 victory over Connacht at the Aviva Stadium, however yellow cards to Lee Barron and Jimmy O'Brien nearly cost them the win.
Despite dominating early on, Leinster only scored their first points when they attacked off line-out, All Black Jordie Barrett ran a convincing dummy line only for Ross Byrne to pull the ball back to the charging Osborne who went under the posts untouched to lead 07-00 after twenty minutes of play.
Seven minutes later Connacht had done well to halt another Leinster maul, however, the hosts went out the back and Barrett put his centre partner Charlie Tector through the gap to score and extend Leinster's lead to 14-00
Leinster could have extended their lead over Connacht but with their failing line-outs on multiple occasions, their lead remained 14-00 until half-time.
Ross Byrne converted an early penalty to extend Leinster's lead to 17-00 after just three minutes of play in the second half.
Leinster lost replacement hooker Lee Barron to a yellow card shortly after coming on for Gus McCarthy.
Connacht made the most of their opportunity against 14 men, following a yellow to Lee Barron, with substitute lock Oisin Dowling barging through a gap from close range.
Eight minutes later Connacht scored their second try. Bundee Aki made a huge break down the left touchline before Connacht moved the ball quickly to take advantage of their extra man and put Jennings over in the corner, Forde added the extras.
With Cathal Forde's conversion, Connacht were back within five points with 20 minutes to go.
The only score in the final twenty minutes was a last-minute penalty conversion by Ross Byrne to extend Leinster's lead to 20-12 which was also the final score.
Scorers:
Leinster Rugby: Tries: Andrew Osborne, Charlie Tector. Conversions: Ross Byrne (2). Penalty: Ross Byrne (2).
Connacht Rugby: Tries: Oisín Dowling, Shane Jennings. Conversion: Cathal Forde.
Teams
Leinster Rugby: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Aitzol Arenzana-King, 13 Charlie Tector, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Andrew Osborne, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan (c), 7 Scott Penny, 6 Alex Soroka, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Diarmuid Mangan, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Jack Boyle. Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Cian Healy, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Max Deegan.
Connacht Rugby: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Cathal Forde, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Shane Jennings, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast (c), 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley. Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Santiago Cordero, 23 Conor Oliver.