RaboDirect PRO12: Andrew Conway scores a hat-trick in Leinster win
Leinster rounded out the league phase of the RaboDirect PRO12 season with a 37-19 victory over the Ospreys.
Last Updated: 03/05/13 11:39pm
The Ospreys stunned their hosts at the RDS to lift the trophy in 2012 but surrendered their grip on the title on a rain-soaked night in Dublin.
Andrew Conway grabbed a hat-trick of tries to help Leinster head into the play-offs - where they will face Glasgow Warriors next weekend - on a winning note.
The Ospreys needed to produce the goods and get a victory here to stay in the play-off reckoning, hoping also that Treviso would defeat the Scarlets in Llanelli.
However it was the hosts who opened the scoring through Conway in the seventh minute, and things got even worse for the Ospreys when they lost Rhys Webb to a leg injury.
Conjured up
Scrum-half Jack McGrath conjured up a second score for Conway but Dan Biggar's opportunist try, that he also converted, from a quickly-taken tap kick made it 14-7.
They closed the gap even further when a number of passes to the right led to Joe Bearman sending centre Ben John over in the corner.
Biggar's conversion attempt narrowly missed the posts to the left and Sexton, who was winded when attempting to stop John's try, recovered to boot an injury-time penalty to leave the score at 17-12.
Conway wasted little time in registering his third try after the break and the conversion and a penalty from fly-half Sexton put Leinster 15 points clear.
Ospreys' second try arrived in the 72nd minute as Ashley Beck's well directed long pass teed up replacement Tom Isaacs for a simple finish out wide on the left.
Biggar converted to put eight points between the sides, yet Leinster finished strongly as Sexton topped off his 15-point tally with another penalty before Ian Madigan converted prop Cian Healy's late, late effort.
