Dragons 6

Leinster 7

Steffan Thomas reports from Rodney Parade

LEINSTER MISFIRED BADLY at times in Newport but were still able to beat the lowly Dragons.

Leo Cullen’s side very nearly became the first Irish province to lose to the Dragons in four years and 21 games. Leinster’s pack held the upper hand throughout, but this was as poor as they have played in a long time.

Numerous handling errors, a misfiring lineout, and conceding 11 penalties gave the Dragons hope that they could finally get one over on an Irish side, but they couldn’t make the most of this golden opportunity. Leinster’s pack as a unit was too strong for the Dragons, but they didn’t score a single point in the second-half against Wales’ weakest region.

The visitors started strongly as they comfortably made headway with their forward carriers in the opposition 22′, and as they edged their way towards the home sides try line, Dragons scrum-half Lewis Jones didn’t release the tackler at the breakdown.

Jones’ illegal act cost him 10 minutes in the sin bin, Leinster made the Welsh side pay with number eight Max Deegan powering his way over from short range. Ross Byrne added the extras and things went from bad to worse from the Dragons who were reduced to 13 men after full back Josh Lewis deliberately slapped the ball forward just when Leinster had worked an overlap.

But some silly errors meant the visitors didn’t make the most of their two-man advantage. Indiscipline crept into Leinster’s game which gifted the Dragons field position, but the hosts couldn’t take advantage meaning Leo Cullen’s side turned around with a 7-0 lead.

Whatever Cullen told his players at half-time didn’t have the desired effect with their lineout malfunctioning, and their accuracy in attack letting them down.

And the longer the Dragons kept the Irish province at bay the more vociferous the Rodney Parade crowd became.

Leinster enjoyed 61% of the territory and 56% possession but couldn’t find the imagination to unlock this Dragons defence. And the Dragons scored their first points of the game on the hour mark with Sam Davies kicking a penalty.

The home side’s tails were now well and truly up with replacement scrum-half Rhodri Williams slicing open the Leinster defence with a 40-metre run before being brought down by Hugo Keenan. But Leinster were forced to infringe, allowing Davies to make it a one-point game with another successful penalty.

Leinster thought they had sealed the win when Nick McCarthy raced clear to score but were denied by the TMO after the hosts were deemed to have knocked the ball on. There were some nervous moments for Cullen in the final five minutes but Leinster had just enough to see the game through.

Scorers:

Dragons: Pens: S Davies 63, 66

Leinster: Try: Deegan 13; Con: R Byrne 15

Dragons: Lewis; Holmes, Dixon, Owen, Olowofela; S Davies, Jones (Williams 50); Seiuli (Bateman 47), Dee (T Davies 59), Doge (Coleman 58), Rowlands, Carter (Maksymiw 55), Moriarty (capt), Griffiths (Basham 32), Wainwright

Leinster: Keenan; Russell, Ringrose, O’Brien (O’Loughlin 67), O’Loughlin (Frawley 54); R Byrne, Gibson-Park (McCarthy 62); Porter (E Byrne 56), Sheehan (Tracy 56), Ala’alatoa (Healy 56), Molony, Ryan (capt), Ruddock (Baird 64), Van der Flier, Deegan (Leavy 56)

Referee: AJ Jacobs (SARU)
Attendance: 5,043