Leinster power home in second half to secure bonus-point win over Dragons

URC: Dragons 10 Leinster 33

Leo Cullen might not have been able to tick all the items on his wishlist ahead of a third successive URC win, but the bonus-point victory and the notable contributions of several returning internationals should suffice in the immediate aftermath.

Injuries to Tommy O’Brien and replacement scrumhalf Cormac Foley will remove a little gloss, so too some carelessness and sloppy execution in the first half, but overall Leinster’s head coach may be satisfied, particularly in light of the second-half performance.

Dan Sheehan celebrated his first game as Leinster captain with a brilliant display, Joe McCarthy, three penalty concessions notwithstanding, was immense in the physical collisions and a deserved man of the match, while Jimmy O’Brien, including a cameo at scrumhalf, and Ryan Baird also contributed handsomely. Ross Byrne’s superb second-half display, the touches of vision and class in execution, were central to a more polished display.

Teeming rain made for challenging handling conditions but doesn’t fully excuse the raft or errors that turned the contest in the first half into a dull, stop-start affair, liberally punctuated by scrums.

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Referee Gianluca Gnecchi proved to be as exasperated as the meagre crowd of 4,000 brave souls when it came to that specific set piece as not one scrum was completed in the first 26 minutes. Leinster were awarded three penalties and a free-kick and the Dragons a free-kick when the visitors were guilty of pushing early through the mark.

The first completed scrum on 28 minutes was whistled back for another Leinster penalty. Gnecchi should at this point have carded Dragons loosehead prop Rhodri Jones for repeated transgressions. He didn’t so the problems persisted.

The home side relied on their excellent lineout maul and box-kicking as their main attacking gambits, while Leinster tried to introduce some back play, but those efforts were scuppered by handling mistakes and largely laboured passing. The visitors were guilty of bouts of indiscipline which afforded the Dragons some respite.

There was no continuity to the contest for much of the afternoon so it’s hard to be critical of the game management, but young Leinster scrumhalf Ben Murphy could reasonably have expected a little better ruck ball presentation.

The knock-on effect of the scrappiness at the breakdown was that Leinster tried to play off static, slow ball, which posed problems rather than offered solutions, before eventually looking to simplify the game plan and seeking out space in the backfield through kicking.

The Irish province scored two tries in the first half, the first through Sheehan. Baird claimed a lineout, the maul was quickly and solidly constituted, and Sheehan profited from the work of his pack to touch down. Byrne kicked the conversion as he would do again a couple of minutes before the interval.

Murphy’s sharply taken penalty brought him to within five metres of the Dragons line, but the ball was trapped by bodies. Leinster got the put-in and were awarded a fifth scrum penalty with Jones again the culprit.

There followed a beautifully worked penalty move, number eight James Culhane’s cleverly disguised pop pass, allowed tighthead prop Thomas Clarkson to crash over unopposed. Byrne’s conversion gave Leinster a 14-3 half-time lead.

The visitors struck again a little over a minute after the interval with a brilliant counterattacking try from a Rio Dyer turnover. Sheehan snaffled the loose ball, flicked a one-handed offload to Charlie Ngatai, who raced clear, linked with Tommy O’Brien and the centre was on hand to clear the ball quickly from the ruck.

Byrne hit Frawley with a perfect cut-out pass and the fullback then exchanged passes with the supporting Sheehan to dot down in the corner. Aneurin Owen responded with a sharply taken try for the home side but Ngatai, with his first for the province, facilitated by a Byrne crosskick and offload by Rob Russell and replacement Scott Penny with his 30th ensured that Leinster took home a bonus-point victory.

The final 15 minutes were made a little more comfortable for the visitors after Dragons’ flanker Taine Basham was sent off for a cheap, nasty flying elbow to the back of Byrne’s head, while secondrow Matthew Screech was given a yellow card for a shoulder to the face of Leinster replacement wing Russell. Leinster finished the game with 14 players due to Foley’s knock.

SCORING SEQUENCE – 8 mins: Sheehan try, R Byrne con, 0-7; 14: Evans pen, 3-7; 38: Clarkson try, Byrne con, 3-14. Half-time: 3-14. 41: Frawley try, R Byrne con, 3-21; 49: Owen try, Evans con, 10-21; 61: Ngatai try, 10-26; 80 (+1): Penny try, R Byrne con, 10-33.

DRAGONS: C Evans; R Dyer, S Hughes (capt), A Owen, J Rosser; W Reed, R Williams; R Jones, E Dee, L Fairbrother; M Screech, G Nott; D Lydiate, T Basham, A Wainwright.

Replacements: E Rosser for J Rosser (42 mins); R Woodman for Wainwright (50); J Benjamin for Dee, A Seiuli for Jones, L Yendle for Fairbrother (all 63); D Blacker for R Williams (64); S Lonsdale for Lydiate (67); J Dixon for Hughes (75).

Yellow card: M Screech (69 mins).

Red card: T Basham (66 mins).

LEINSTER: C Frawley; T O’Brien, J Osborne, C Ngatai, J O’Brien; R Byrne, B Murphy; J Boyle, D Sheehan (capt), T Clarkson; J Jenkins, J McCarthy; R Baird, W Connors, J Culhane.

Replacements: R Russell for O’Brien (42 mins); M Ala’alatoa for Clarkson, C Foley for Murphy (both 50); H Byrne for Ngatai (52); L Barron for Sheehan (64), P McCarthy for Boyle, M Deegan for Baird (all 64); S Penny for Connors (70).

Referee: G Gnecchi (Italy).