Fair dues to the Gloucester pack, and the replacements were sweet. Leinster pack got laid out and trampled upon. But there should have been more points on the board in the first 20. Praise for Tindall, but he still didn't break through that midfield. There were three knock-ons (Balshaw twice!) that released the pressure on Leinster. And the chip-and-chase try was veeeeery close - Keogh lacked urgency in getting down, but what do you do when you're that close to the line? Kick it out?
Alarm bells for Leinster. Unlucky not to get another try, maybe two. Conti can be a bit of a clown, but the midfield had hardly any possession, and when they did it was so slow the pressure defence cut out the options. Jackman's throwing is a sackable offence - clean line-out ball is the platform that gives space to the backs to run their lines.
BOD played well - went to the bin to save his team (although Tindall should have had a try from the offence!), came back on and *****ed at the forwards, scored a try and won a few turnovers. Pity he didn't get the team, way back, to engineer a drop-kick against Edinburgh. Never seen Darcy so quiet on the attack - didn't even get the chance to speed up and carry the ball through tackles. Horgan out for a month? From a 6N point of view, the whole thing was nail-biting.
Ref was an attacker's dream/defender's nightmare. Was Richards sent to the bin for cursing at the ref? Anyway, he wasn't great, but better than Whittaker.
Point is for Leinster, their pack is too feeble to lift the HEC. Leicester, Munster, Biarritz will eat them alive. But they'll probably get Llanelli in the quarters, so game on.
