Oct 20,2024
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says they will wait until Monday to fully assess Ciarán Frawley's ankle injury.
The out-half was replaced just 16 minutes into Saturday’s 33-12 win against Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium, after he appeared to go over on his ankle after being tackled in the build-up to his side’s second try of the night.
The sight of Frawley limping out so early will also be a concern for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, who is due to name his squad for next month’s Autumn Nations Series on Wednesday. Ireland’s first game of four next month is against New Zealand on Friday, 8 November, less than three weeks away.
Cullen had no update on the extent of Frawley’s injury in the immediate aftermath of the win, adding that the province will let the issue settle over the weekend before assessing it when the squad regather on Monday.
The Leinster coach was delighted with his side’s showing in difficult conditions as they comfortably saw off the challenge of Connacht to maintain their perfect start, with five bonus-point wins from five games so far this season.
Tries for Jamie Osborne, Liam Turner and RG Snyman gave them a 21-5 buffer at half time, while Max Deegan and Andrew Osborne (below) also added scores in the second half, as they played into a strong wind, which was only blowing harder as the game grew.
"We're delighted with the win. It's bloody tough coming here," Cullen said.
"Conditions were tricky as well out there. I thought we started the game well again, that's a few weeks in a row we've started the game well.
"We got in for two good tries and probably had another couple of opportunities we didn't take. Connacht came back into the game and had to play into the wind, it was very difficult to kick into the wind."
While they raced into a 14-0 lead inside 15 minutes, the game was won and lost in the minutes either side of half-time, as RG Snyman scored right on 40 minutes to make it 21-5, before a Max Deegan try (below) shortly after the restart gave them a 21-point buffer.
"We did well to score on half-time, which gives us a bit of scoreboard separation.
"We started the second half well and got in, but Connacht were challenging us the whole time. Then they eventually got in for a good try, and it was going to be a tight 15 minutes, and then Ross [Byrne] kicks off and then Andrew Osborne gobbles the ball out of the air and scores an incredible try, which probably just took the sting out of Connacht a little bit," he added.
Connacht head coach had a similar assessment of the turning of the game, as he rued the concession of Snyman’s try right on half-time.
"Had we gone in two tries down, I think that would have been a brilliant return for the strength of wind it was," Wilkins said.
"Going in, even three down, it was bad timing to concede just before half-time, but I still don't think it probably ended the contest for us.
"The third just meant we just weren't quite in range for them to be nervous at half-time, knowing they have to come out and play into that wind in the second half. That was the disappointing bit of it."
The Connacht boss (below) remained upbeat despite missing out on any match points for the first time this season.
And he cited the number of chances they created against Leinster’s aggressive defence as a reason for optimism ahead of next week’s game with the Dragons in Galway.
"I actually thought we handled that bit really well. If you saw the number of times we were able to hold our feet and stay calm on the ball and shift the ball to the edges where there is that little bit more space, I thought we had a number of occasions where that got us on the front foot.
"Early in the game we tried to play there maybe a phase too early, but I think we addressed that at half time.
"I was quite pleased with how we handled the pressure of that linespeed.
"For us, you saw we’re becoming a team that has a variety of carry options, in terms of the strength of some of those dominant carries.
"There was a time where we just had to play a war of attrition and hold onto the ball to get our breaks, but now we’re getting a bit of explosivity and big bodies who can dent a line.
"If they’re denting a line against such a good Leinster linespeed, then it bodes well for games to come," he added.
