Leinster will start as strong favourites in Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 final in Dublin but a sensational loss on their home ground in the last league game at the weekend will offer opponents Munster just a small glimmer of hope.
Leinster have built up an aura of invincibility in the PRO14 in recent seasons and a defeat for them is a very rare thing. So even though they were under-strength when they played the Ospreys at the start of the final weekend of round robin fixtures, the fact they were beaten on their home field does undermine that aura a little and Johan van Graan’s Munster will have their confidence boosted.
It was Josh Thomas’ late charge-down try that clinched the Ospreys their dramatic five point win over the Irish team at the RDS arena.
Leinster had enjoyed a comfortable 19-3 lead heading into the final quarter but with Leinster having a man in the bin at the end, the Welshmen stormed back with tries from Olly Cracknell in the 68th minute and Owen Watkin in the 71st before Thomas scored the winner.
It was Leinster’s second defeat of the PRO14 season. Earlier in the competition they were shocked by Connacht but came back to win well the following week and they will be hoping history repeats itself as they go in search of yet another PRO14 title. Munster warmed up for their title challenge with a comfortable home win over Benetton.
Although the Leinster defeat was something to remark on, the finalists had booked their place in Saturday’s climax to the season some time ago so the real business of the final round was the sorting out of Champions Cup places for next season. On that score it was a dramatic couple of days.
Scarlets and Cardiff Blues went into matches on Monday night with just three points separating them on the Conference B log table. The top three in each conference qualify for the Champions Cup, with Scarlets holding the advantage at the start of the evening but finding themselves deep in the mire when they fell 21 points behind Connacht in Llanelli.
They accomplished their objective with a stirring comeback and it was a good thing they did because Cardiff, who also had to fight back from a deficit, accomplished their part of the mission by scoring a bonus point win over Edinburgh. The Scots had an outside chance of claiming a top three finish themselves and would have felt their slim hopes were still alive when they led 10-3 at halftime, an advantage that should have been bigger given the way they dominated the first half.
ut Cardiff stormed back in the second period and took complete control of the game to eventually run out winners by a comfortable 19 point margin.
The Ospreys win over Leinster put them out of sight of fourth placed Glasgow Warriors in the battle for third place in Conference A, with the Warriors, who had a game in hand, then going on to lose without a bonus point to the Dragons.
Leinster, Ulster and the Ospreys qualified for the Champions Cup from Conference A while the top three finishers in Conference B were Munster, Connacht and Scarlets.
Weekend Results
Munster 31-17 Benetton
Leinster 19-24 Ospreys
Ulster 49-3 Zebre
Dragons 26-17 Glasgow Warriors
Cardiff Blues 34-15 Edinburgh
Scarlets 41-36 Connacht
Final
Leinster v Munster (Dublin, Saturday 19.00)