Cardiff 27 Leinster 11:Hopes that Leinster could reverse the relatively sluggish form of the past month or two scarcely lasted until kick-off, and certainly not for much longer. Granted a glimpse of the Magners Celtic League title, and in the knowledge a bonus-point win would take them over the finish line, they hardly raised a gallop.
Afterwards Michael Cheika maintained he couldn't fault the team's effort, but admitted, "We had plenty of ball but we didn't have enough decoy runners and our passing wasn't as slick as it could have been.
"We kept going at it but we haven't been in great form for the last month and I'll take a look at the way the season was planned because next year is a big year for us."
Incessant rain, from lunchtime until just before kick-off, would certainlyhave dampened the ardour of the couple of hundred travelling Leinster supporters, and seemingly that of their players as well. Though the pitch was apparently quite hard underneath the layer of water, it made for cloying conditions that didn't suit their gamebreakers, Felipe Contepomi, Gordon D'Arcy and Denis Hickie.
That said, it was the same for both sides, and with less possession and fewer attacking opportunities, Cardiff looked the more potent side, primarily by dint of playing with far more depth. They showed a better appreciation of the conditions by employing their lineout maul from early on, and it was also a good deal more effective.
Leinster took the game to Cardiff for much of the first half, when having the majority of possession and territory, and one could not doubt their desire. But they looked jaded and toothless, while their back-play - with Shane Horgan again looking out of sorts at inside centre - was plodding and at times shapeless.
Thus for all their attacking platforms, countless phases and huffing and puffing, Leinster rarely looked likescoring one try, let alone four, in the first half and by the time Horgan scored their first after 54 minutes - unsurprisingly an individualistic effort - Cardiff had already secured their bonus point.
Nor could their pack generate anything like sufficient ballast through their maul or their fringe pick-and-goes, more pick-and-flops really. There were a few honourable exceptions, notably the unswervingly game Gordon D'Arcy, who came upwith several big plays, along with the hard-running Trevor Hogan and Jamie Heaslip. Stephen Keogh too put himself about.
Chris Whitaker also used the ball cleverly before he limped off at halftime, but Contepomi looked to be struggling physically, and ultimately Leinster collapsed amid a raft of errors that drew the mirth of the Welsh crowd.
The portents were ominous from the fifth minute, when Cardiff scored with ease from their first attempt.Nicky Robinson took the ball up as first receiver from a lineout drive and simply drifted past Keith Gleeson to make good ground before offloading for Robin Sowden-Taylor to score. Contepomi and Ben Blair exchanged penalties but by the end of the quarter Leinster felt obliged to twice put kickable three-pointers into the corner.
Twice their lineout drives were held up, the second perhaps illegally, and though D'Arcy nearly wriggled through in between countless fringe drives, the pressure was relieved when Horgan was correctly penalised for getting back to his feet while still held in the tackle by Sowden-Taylor.
Instead, the Cardiff pack showed them how it should be done when opting for the corner themselves. Though the initial drive was held up, Cardiff kept control impressively, secondary drive back toward the blind side culminating in Gareth Williams peeling off for the score.
Trailing 13-6 at the break, Leinster's managed to slip further at the start of the second period and their goose was well and truly roasted with a Cardiff double whammy. Latching onto another lamentable turnover, Cardiff attacked with Nick Robinson crosskicking beyond a narrow defence for Chris Czekaj to gather and put Rhys Williams over with only Girvan Dempsey in the vicinity. Then Marc Stcherbina picked off Horgan's attempted chip from inside his own 22 to run in Cardiff's bonus-point try.
A rout was averted when Bernard Jackman and Stanley Wright eked out some yardage, Contepomi took the ball up and Horgan stepped in at the base, to pull away from one tackle, kick ahead and then exploit Rhys Williams's fumble to hack on and score.
Contepomi was binned when following up his own up-and-under by inadvertently taking out Nick Robinson in the air. It almost certainly wasn't deliberate.
Leinster luckily suffered no more pain on the scoreboard.The suspicion remains that something has gone seriously wrong with Leinster and they need to do some soulsearching as well as recruiting between now and next season.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins:Sowden-Taylor try 5-0; 8:Contepomi pen 5-3; 18:Blair pen 8-3; 27:Contepomi pen 8-6; 32: G Williams try 13-6 (half-time 13-6); 47:R Williams try, N Robinson con 20-6; 50:Stcherbina try, N Robinson con 27-6; 54:Horgan try 27-11.
CARDIFF:B Blair; R Williams, J Robinson, M Stcherbina, C Czekaj; N Robinson, M Phillips; G Jenkins, G Williams, G Powell; D Jones, R Sidoli; S Morgan, R Sowden Taylor, Rush (capt). Replacements:S Roberts for Jenkins, T James for R Williams (both 65 mins); M Lewis for Morgan, N Macleod for Blair (both 70 mins). Not used:T Rhys Thomas, R Shellard, Evans.
LEINSTER:G Dempsey; R Kearney, S Horgan, G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi (capt), C Whitaker; R Corrigan, B Jackman, W Green; T Hogan, M O'Kelly; S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements:S Wright for Corrigan, G Easterby for Whitaker (both half-time); C Warner for Kearney (56 mins); C Jowitt for Keogh (60 mins); O Finegan for O'Kelly (62 mins); L Fitzgerald for Dempsey (66 mins). Not used:B Blaney. Sinbinned:Contepomi (57 mins).
Referee: M Changleng(SRU).
