Following a 22-19 victory for Leinster against Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on Friday night, here’s our five takeaways from the fixture at Swansea.

Chalk up win number 11. With a feeling of inevitability, the Leinster machine rumbles on as they secured an 11th straight victory in the URC but it was far from easy.

Despite missing a whopping 17 Ireland internationals, Leo Cullen’s men still managed to keep that unbeaten run intact and thus extend their summit lead to 15 points.

Tries from Luke McGrath, Charlie Tector and Rabah Slimani saw them to victory as Ciaran Frawley kicked five points off the tee while Ross Byrne slotted a conversion.

Harri Deaves, Ethan Lewis and Cameron Jones went over for a spirited Ospreys side who deservedly took something out of the game, albeit they came close to the win.

Simon Easterby notes

Ireland interim head coach was in attendance in Swansea as he got a closer look at those in action for Leinster. In a week where he has been linked with the Wales job, tongues were no doubt wagging tonight over his appearance on Welsh soil. However, it was of course strictly Irish business as he watched those released from his squad.

Jack Boyle impressed at scrum time and around the field while Jimmy O’Brien looked for work off his wing and Jamie Osborne was solid if not spectacular at full-back.

Other than that though Frawley and Gus McCarthy struggled to impact the game and didn’t do enough to change Easterby’s matchday squad thinking in their respective positions ahead of Round Three of the Six Nations. Therefore, expect to see Ronan Kelleher, Dan Sheehan, Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley retained and rightly so.

Leinster scrum dominant

As mentioned loosehead prop Boyle was impressively solid and gave his opponent Tom Botha a torrid time at the scrum, winning a couple of penalties in that area. Of course it’s a collective effort from the Leinster forwards and Slimani yet again chipped in with a strong outing while those behind helped give Leinster a solid platform.

Ospreys flankers impress

Two players not involved for Wales at the moment really caught the eye for their region as Deaves and the long-serving Justin Tipuric were excellent throughout in black.

Deaves, 23, battled hard with ball in hand and regularly made ground as his ability to slip tackles offered crucial go-forward to the Ospreys, who have a brilliant prospect.

Tipuric meanwhile just gets better with age and continues to stand out. A moment summed up the great openside late on in the fixture as he waited patiently for his moment to pounce on the Leinster ball carrier and duly feasted and won the turnover. Unfortunately the kick to the corner did not find touch as his work wasn’t rewarded.

RG Snyman impact

Some might have been surprised to see the Springboks lock not make the starting side, especially with Joe McCarthy, James Ryan and Ryan Baird currently with Ireland. However, his role as super-sub off the bench continues to do the job for Cullen and they utilised it to good effect again as the towering forward provided crucial impact.