RUGBY/MAGNERS LEAGUE/Leinster 34 Glasgow 18:ANOTHER GOOD Friday for Leinster. Extending their lead to 10 points at the top of the Magners League table, Michael Cheika's side showed an impressive sense of purpose and patience to earn a bonus-point win over a Glasgow side playing with huge energy.
Playing only their third match in ten weeks, and welcoming back five of their internationals, inevitably the league leaders took the first quarter to find their cohesion and rhythm. But they worked their way into the game, retaining the ball, going through phases and probing for openings, which they had to, because Glasgow's concentration and workrate in defence were impressive.
Leinster have become quite adept at varying the tempo in breaking down defences, all the more so when Chris Whitaker is there. Ollie le Roux, Bernard Jackman and Stanley Wright carried plenty of ball as Leinster sought to keep Glasgow honest close in. Malcolm O'Kelly, who equalled Reggie Corrigan's record of 139 appearances for Leinster, was perhaps fresher than normal at this juncture and had a big game too, while Jamie Heaslip - confidence oozing from his belated status as a quality Test number eight - pumped his legs and seemed to be everywhere.
Picking their moments for Felipe Contepomi to unveil his repertoire of grubbers, skip passes, jinks and offloads, the outside international trio all looked dangerous. In the circumstances, the 11,713 crowd went home happy.
A surfeit of early handling errors, probably due to frostbite, did not prevent an exhausting early bout of trading turnovers for three minutes without a break.
Glasgow were rewarded for their bright start with a brace of penalties by Colin Gregor, the second after Ollie le Roux had ended their first phased attack by knocking on and Rob Kearney deliberately slapped a ball into touch after knocking on Shane Horgan's pass inside. It was a silly-looking penalty to concede, but may have saved a seven-pointer.
There had been signs Leinster were warming to their task. It helped their cause that Glasgow's jumpers were unable to gather Dougie Hall's throws. From one such error Leinster went through the phases until Fitzgerald stepped and wriggled through a non-existent gap and Moray Low was lucky not be binned for playing the ball on the deck as Contepomi opened Leinster's account.
Whitaker promptly injected tempo with a quick tap on his own 10-metre line. Contepomi, as ever, was alive to it, and lovely hands by Shane Jennings, Stan Wright and Chris Warner released Kearney for a run with Heaslip popping up on his shoulder. Four phases later - Wright, Jackman and Cullen having carried - Jennings burrowed through Dan Turner and James Eddie after the former failed to hold him in the tackle.
Contepomi converted and Leinster continued to pound away close in before selectively moving it wider, also offloading the ball more. A double hit by Jennings and Heaslip forced a turnover deep into injury time. Leinster made it pay, recycling off the base of the scrum for Whitaker to find Contepomi. With Bernard Stortoni defending wide out and no sweeper near the posts Berne won the touchdown to the outhalf's perfectly weighted grubber.
A searing break by Gregor after the turnaround should have brought Glasgow back into it but Lome Fa'atau couldn't hold the pass when a kick ahead might have been the better option. Likewise, Fitzgerald might have scored if Keith Gleeson's cut-out pass had been flat instead of forward.
The fun and games continued as Glasgow ran it back from everywhere, but all the territory was Leinster's. Nearing the hour, they turned down a three-pointer for a scrum under the posts.
Heaslip, Cullen and le Roux had goes before the ball reached Contepomi, now playing at centre, and again he grubbered into the small RDS in-goal area with sufficient deftness for Horgan to score and put Leinster into bonus point territory.
It therefore didn't really affect the game's ebb or purpose that Glasgow briefly pounded the Leinster line for Low to break Cullen's tackle to score. Five minutes from time Leinster tapped a penalty close to the line and hammered away through the pack for Heaslip to spot a gap and clearly reach out for the line like a kid stealing from a sweet shop.
John Beattie having scored off turnover ball and Scott Barrow's offload, Sexton wrapped around Contepomi to gather the one-handed, behind-the-back offload and hit Horgan with a flat skip pass for the winger to celebrate his new two-year deal and man-of-the-match award by diving in at the corner.
Scoring sequence: 7 mins: Gregor pen 0-3; 17: Gregor pen 0-6; 22: Contepomi pen 3-6; 24: Jennings try, Contepomi con 10-6; 40 (+3): Berne try, Contepomi con 17-6 (half-time 17-6); 61: Horgan try 22-6; 68: Low try, Gregor con 22-13; 75: Heaslip try, Contepomi con 29-13; 80: Beattie try 29-18; 82: Horgan try 34-18.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, C Warner, M Berne, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly; S Jennings, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: C Keane for Whitaker (14-23 and 52 mins), J Sexton for Berne (58 mins), T Hogan for O'Kelly (62 mins), C Healy for le Roux (70 mins), G Brown for Fitzgerald, B Blaney for Jackman, S Keogh for Heaslip (all 73 mins).
GLASGOW: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, G Morrison, D Gibson, T Evans; C Gregor, S Pinder; E Kalman, D Hall, M Low; A Newman, D Turner; J Eddie, D Macfadyen, J Beattie. Replacements: O Palepoi for Newman (39 mins), J Va'a for Kalman (half-time), H O'Hare for Fa'atau (62 mins), E Milligan for Hall, S Barrow for Pinder (both 73 mins). Not used: R Vernon, R Jackson.
Referee: H Watkins (Wales).
