On a cold Decembers night on the south side of Dublin, the RDS and Leinster welcomed a Cardiff team who are in a reach vein of form having won 4 out of their last 5 games. From the recent results of both teams and the talent pool of players they have to choose from, this game was set to be a great one. However this game never lived up to the expectations. With Joe Schmidt opting to select a youthful team and with many of the Cardiff Blues key players away on International duty with Wales, we were left with a very one sided game.
The opening minutes produced very little in entertainment for the fans and it was Cardiff who settled quickest and who were first off the mark with a penalty on the 8th minute. This however was quickly answer by McFadden for Leinster on the 10th minute. On the 14th minute another penalty from the inform McFadden doubled the lead for Leinster. Irish International Isaac Boss scored a great individual try after some sustained pressure in the Cardiff half. From this point on Leinster were in the driving seat and never looked like losing it. Two penalties for Cardiff near the end of the half meant the teams went in with only 4 points the difference.
However, Leinster cut loose in the second half and the Cardiff team could not contain the free flowing rugby Leinster had. Tries from White, Madigan, Kearney (2) and Auva'a sealed the deal for the home side and delighted the home fans. The last kick of the game by Sexton represented the whole night for Leinster. It looked like the ball was horribly miskicked but the wind took it inside the right post. Leinster lead the table by 1 with the wind, but all is very close.
