MATT O’CONNOR ADMITTED his relief after Leinster prevented Bath from a late match-winning score at the Aviva Stadium, though he stated his belief that his side had done “a pretty good job” for the majority of their Champions Cup quarter-final win.
Captain Jamie Heaslip and head coach Matt O’Connor post-match at the Aviva. Source: Colm O’Neill/INPHO
Leinster advance into the semi-finals of the European competition to face the winners of tomorrow’s clash between Toulon and Wasps as Stade Mayol aware that they will need to improve.
O’Connor’s men conceded two tries in the 18-15 victory over Bath, both involving linebreaks by Bath out-half George Ford, as they failed to cross the whitewash themselves.
A take-any-points-on-offer policy saw Ian Madigan expertly kick six penalties from six to secure the victory.
But just three points in the second 40 meant Leinster failed to build on their 15-5 half-time lead, and they finished the game defending inside their half against Bath’s threatening attack.
“You are always relieved when you win an knockout game,” said O’Connor after watching Leinster hold out, “it was always going to be tough. It was going to be hard-fought and they’ve got some tremendous threat on the ball.
“George Ford was pretty dangerous when he got opportunities and when you’ve got guys like [Anthony[ Watson, [Horacio] Agulla, [Matt] Banahan, [Jonathan] Joseph and [Kyle] Eastmond outside him, it is going to be a tough afternoon defensively.
Heaslip applauds the crowd in Dublin. Source: Colm O’Neill/INPHO
“I thought we did a pretty good job by and large for most of the game. Fordy [George Ford] capitalised on two opportunities and they got tries from those, but the rest of the game, apart from the unstructured bits that Watson created late in the game, I thought we were pretty good defensively.