It is nearly two years since Leinster went down to defeat at home to Welsh opposition in the Magners League, and given the hectic schedule experienced by the Ospreys of late - this was their fourth game in 14 days - no-one expected this fixture to buck the trend.
This was doubly true when the away side were short of a host of big names, but neither could the Leinster coach, Michael Cheika, have expected things to go so well on so many fronts.
To begin with, this bonus-point win closes Ulster's lead at the top of the table to two points. Then there is the return to Europe on Saturday with a game at home to Edinburgh. With that in mind, there was further evidence that Will Green and Felipe Contepomi have recovered from neck and knee injuries respectively, Leinster's set-piece was better than at any time this season, and in the middle of the field they have a player who currently is ahead of anyone else in world rugby.
The excellence of Gordon D'Arcy is best illustrated by the fact that his partner, Brian O'Driscoll, scored two tries - one of them an exceptional effort - and yet there was no argument that D'Arcy was the man of the match. "It's difficult to tell when you've just come straight from the pitch, but I was happy enough with my game," he said. It is early January but already we have a contender for understatement of the year. "I made a few clean breaks but a lot of individuals played well on the night. We can take a lot of positives from the game, but we know that we have to improve by 20 or 30% for the game against Edinburgh. This does put us on a sound footing in the Magners League, but our focus now is the Heineken Cup for the next two weeks."
The likelihood is that Pool Two will not provide one of the two best runners-up in the group qualifying for the knockout stages, so it is just as well Leinster are on course to finish top. If they can maintain this form over the next fortnight, which concludes against Gloucester at Kingsholm, then they might secure a home quarter-final. In this instance, however, the attraction would be purely financial: with Lansdowne Road and the RDS - their alternative home - out of action, they would have to look elsewhere, most likely to a football ground in England.
This is all dependent on them staying on course, but again the back line showed how lethal they can be when fed from a stable set-piece. Five of Leinster's six tries came from the backs, with the full-back Rob Kearney contributing two. He has had mixed form since filling in for the injured Girvan Dempsey, who hopes to be fit to face Edinburgh, but his first was a tremendous finish from broken play, a score that did a lot for his confidence.
"It was great to see Rob come back in and score that brilliant individual try," said D'Arcy. "That was definitely one of the pluses on the night. It was great to see some of the guys that came in, like Ross McCarron, do well, and Kieran Lewis played brilliantly as well. So too Bernard Jackman up front, while guys like [Keith] Gleeson and Jamie Heaslip had big games."
The only downside for Leinster on the night was in easing up when they had the game won. After leading 17-8 at half-time they took full advantage of Andrew Lloyd being sin-binned in the third quarter, with 14 points scored in his absence. Then they allowed the Ospreys to score two late tries, when the Welsh had a few of their bigger names on the field.
In the circumstances, the Ospreys will not feel this setback seriously undermines their prospects against Stade Français on Sunday. Leinster would like to think the performance tees them up nicely.
Leinster Kearney; Lewis, O'Driscoll (capt; McCarron, 59), D'Arcy, Hickie; Contepomi, Whitaker (Easterby, 48); Wright (Corrigan, 48), B Jackman (Vermaas, 68), Green, Jowitt, O'Kelly, Keogh (Hogan, 30; Finegan, 50), Heaslip, Gleeson.
Tries Kearney 2, O'Driscoll 2, Hickie, Gleeson. Cons Contepomi 5, Sexton. Pen Contepomi.
Ospreys Terblanche; Mustoe, Selley, Bishop, Vaughton (Walker, 21; Hook, 68); Connor, Roberts (Spice, 56); Paul (capt), Shirvington (Williams, 56), Millward (Jones, 56), Cockbain (Martenko, 76), Powell, Beach, Lloyd (yc46-56), Pugh (Lewis, 76)
Tries Cockbain, Terblanche, Pugh. Cons Connor 2. Pen Connor.
Referee M Changleng (Scotland). Attendance 5,000.
Late try lifts Ulster
Champions Ulster halted Glasgow's Magners League revival with a 19-8 win in a lively match at Hughenden in which Glasgow were only sunk by two quick tries in the last quarter. Ulster took the lead with a try from Rory Best that Paddy Wallace converted. The home side cut the deficit early in the second half with a Dan Parks penalty but Ulster resisted the pressure and Neil Best's try midway through the half was followed by another by Tommy Bowe two minutes later. Andy Newman scored a late consolation for Glasgow.
Cardiff maintained their 100% home record with a 36-15 win over Borders, but it took a purple patch just after half-time to break the bottom side's resistance. Cardiff's Rhys Shellard broke the deadlock with a well-worked try that Ben Blair converted. But Borders recovered to lead, Calum MacRae's penalty being followed by a try by Simon Danielli. Blues regained the lead with a Blair penalty before three tries in seven minutes - from Xavier Rush, Ben White and Jamie Robinson - secured the game and a bonus point. Garry Law scored a late try for Borders before Shellard crossed again.
