Jamie Osborne inspires dominant Leinster to one-sided win at Gloucester

There might be a temptation to give them the title now. Certainly, the impression, which has long settled in, that the Heineken Champions Cup these days is basically a competition between Leinster and a handful of French teams was not alleviated in the wet West Country, where Gloucester copped another fearful hiding from what is more or less the Ireland team.

Leinster were not even at full strength. Never mind. If 21-year-old Jamie Osborne, a whirlwind force at inside-centre, is not a full international, he will be soon. The Dublin production line continues. Ross Byrne, who didn’t miss a kick, is already ensconced in the Leinster No10 shirt, but Leinster looked no less classy there for the absence of Johnny Sexton. When the Lion Jack Conan replaced Ryan Baird in the second half, it was difficult to tell the difference.

Gloucester are fourth in the Premiership. It is true, there is not much difference there, either, between fourth and last, but Gloucester were made to look what they are – a well-drilled outfit who can execute the basics and all that. In terms of angles, imagination, pace and power, Leinster were in a different class – that of an international team.

Gloucester were awarded two penalty tries, both at a lineout and drive, both of which came with a yellow card. The French referee reached for his pocket and ran to the posts earlier than one might expect in the Premiership, so one could argue they were lucky for all of their points. Each time Leinster were down to 14 they extended their lead, the first time with a brilliant try by Osborne, Leinster’s third, when he picked a fine line off a lineout and rounded Ben Meehan with an outrageous step. That is what classy teams do off an attacking lineout.

That put Leinster 21-7 up, having notched two tries in the first 10 minutes. Jordan Larmour is well used to the epithet “without a finger laid on him”, as was trotted out again when he went over in the fourth minute from another bewitching lineout move, but Allan Ala’alatoa, the Wallaby prop, less so. All the same, he strolled over from an imaginative tap-penalty routine.

Leinster brought up the bonus point, just before half-time, a rather sweatier effort from close range – another tap penalty. When, a few minutes into the second half, Hugo Keenan managed to skip down a corridor that did not seem to exist between George Barton and the touchline, after a gallop by James Ryan and a finger-tip pass by Byrne, even the Shed fell silent to hear the unplayable symphony.

Gloucester were awarded their second penalty try next, with quarter of an hour to go, so 14-man Leinster responded at the front of a lineout to send Ronan Kelleher away, and Josh van der Flier finished a couple of phases later. Finally, Leinster scored from yet another attacking lineout, this time the old-fashioned up-the-guts way – just to show they can. And they can. Boy, they can.