GUINNESS PRO14
LEINSTER 54
DRAGONS 10
By Daire Walsh
After recovering from an early 10-point deficit at the RDS this evening, Leinster claimed a convincing victory over the Dragons in the Guinness PRO14.
Jordi Murphy, Andrew Porter and Jack Conan all returned to the Leinster matchday squad following their appearances for Ireland against Fiji at the Aviva Stadium six days earlier, but with a number of the first-team squad still on international duty, it was a golden opportunity for some fringe stars to impress in their absence.
Dragons are coached by former Leinster hooker Bernard Jackman, and though their form has been patchy at best to date, they broke the deadlock through a familiar face in the Ballsbridge venue.
The last of Gavin Henson’s 33 caps for Wales was back in 2011, but he edged the visitors in front by splitting the posts with an exquisite drop-goal on three minutes. Leinster included Suncroft’s Fergus McFadden in a back-three alongside the youthful Jordan Larmour and club skipper Isa Nacewa, but it was the Dragons who initially dominated possession.
The Welsh region developed several phases inside the Blues’ ’22’, and number eight James Benjamin eventually drove over the whitewash. This score was complimented by a clinical Henson conversion, which put Leinster 10 points in arrears.
It was far too early for the hosts to panic, though, and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park got his side up and running with his fourth try of the season. The bonus kick was taken by Ross Byrne rather than the reliable Nacewa, but the former made no mistake to reduce Leinster’s deficit to three points.
This allowed Leinster to settle into the contest, and with 28 minutes gone in the opening period, they moved into the ascendancy for the first time. McFadden kick-started the Blues’ latest attack with a strong carry on the right-flank, and after the play was switched to the far side, Nacewa sprinted over the line to mark his return from injury in style.
Byrne added to his tally with an outstanding touchline conversion, and while he had an opportunity to kick for goal from a subsequent penalty, he opted to kick for touch instead. This proved to be a sensible decision, as Leinster’s line-out maul forced Dragons on the back-foot immediately.
On his first start for the province, Josh Murphy drove towards the line, and following consultation between referee Sam Grove-White and TMO Andrew McMenemy, another five-pointer went the way of Leinster.
Byrne was once again on target from the resulting conversion attempt, and on a night when the fly-half was making 28th league appearance, he brilliantly provided the platform for Leinster’s bonus-point try on 33 minutes.
His sublime crossfield ball from the left-wing was gathered by McFadden, who put Max Deegan through for his maiden Leinster try. With his confidence now at its optimum level, Byrne once again found his range from a tight-angle, and this offered Leo Cullen’s charges a 28-10 interval advantage.
After a positive opening, Dragons had faded out of the game dramatically, and Leinster would continue their dominance of the action after the restart. Nine minutes into the second-half, Dragons full-back Angus O’Brien was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on. To add insult to injury for the 23-year-old former U20 international, the video footage of the incident was compelling enough for Grove-White to award a penalty try to Leinster.
Because of a new rule that was introduced in recent months, they were automatically given two points on top of this score, but Byrne was called upon once more when Nacewa touched down for his second try in the 53rd-minute.
He brought his personal haul up to 10 points with a terrific kick from the left-hand side, and while a raft of changes did lead to a barren scoring period, Leinster enhanced their cushion on the stroke of 70 minutes.
Larmour won a foot race with the retreating Dragons defence to record his third try of the campaign, and this was supplemented by a conversion from Cathal Marsh – who deputised for Byrne in the closing quarter.
Larmour had delivered an accomplished performance on the night, and his breathtaking run through the heart of the Dragons rearguard four minutes from time put Rory O’laughlin through for Leinster’s eight try of the night.
Marsh’s wayward conversion meant that the hosts didn’t quite match their 28-point haul from the first-half, but ahead of an away trip to Benetton Treviso next Saturday, they remain firmly in contention for a play-off spot.
Scorers for Leinster: Isa Nacewa 2 tries, Jamison Gibson-Park, Josh Murphy, Max Deegan, Jordan Larmour, Rory O’Loughlin try each, penalty try and conversion, Ross Byrne 5 conversions, Cathal Marsh conversion.
Scorers for Dragons: James Benjamin try, Gavin Henson drop-goal, conversion.
LEINSTER: Jordan Larmour; Fergus McFadden, Rory O’Loughlin, Noel Reid, Isa Nacewa (Conor O’Brien 54); Ross Byrne (Cathal Marsh 61), Jamison Gibson-Park (Nick McCarthy 56); Ed Byrne (Peter Dooley 49), Sean Cronin (Richardt Strauss 49), Michael Bent (Andrew Porter 49); Ross Molony (Ian Nagle 8 (Jack Conan 68)), Scott Fardy; Josh Murphy, Jordi Murphy, Max Deegan.
DRAGONS: Angus O’Brien; Jared Rosser, Adam Warren, Jack Dixon (Connor Edwards 66), Ashton Hewitt; Gavin Henson (Arwel Robson 66), Sarel Pretorius (Dan Babos 66); Sam Hobbs (Brock Harris half-time), Ellis Shipp (Gerard Ellis 61), Lloyd Fairbrother (Luke Garrett 61); Joe Davies (Rynard Landman 54), Matthew Screech; Aaron Wainwright, Ollie Griffiths (Ben Roach 61), James Benjamin.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU).