Leinster Lions ... 19 London Irish ... 24 RUGBY: A youthful Leinster outfit somehow managed to stay within touching range of London Irish right up to the final whistle. To leave themselves within a score of an unlikely victory was as much a tribute to their defence as anything else in the face of near incessant pressure.
Obliged to withstand sustained recycling in their own half for much of a sun-kissed evening in front of a sizeable pre-season crowd of about 3,000 in Greystones, this was very much a backs-to-the-wall, loaves and fishes job. Granted they were helped by the rustiness of an error-prone Irish side, who never sought three-pointers when there was the faintest whiff of a try in the offing, and played almost entirely through the hands.
It will have been an invaluable part of Leinster's learning curve all the same and will have done buckets for their defence of the Celtic League crown. They repeatedly threw their bodies on the line, from the big men up front right out to little Simon Keogh and, when he came on, Andy Dunne, whose gritty tackling typified the collective effort.
On the rare occasions when they were able to play on the front foot, this often involved Des Dillon, who had a fine game and used his hand-off to striking effect, and once more the enthusiastic Ben Gissing.
Continuing from his second half against Bristol, Dave Quinlan was again penetrative while Shane Jennings once more tackled and ran hard while also competing favourably at the breakdown with the impressive Declan Danaher.
About the most remarkable aspect of the first 39 minutes was that London Irish came within a minute of the interval without registering a single point after a catalogue of missed opportunities. Admittedly it was their clear pre-match policy not to take penalties at goal, and they turned down at least three certain three-pointers in preference for attacking set-pieces.
By contrast, Leinster bore hardly the faintest comparison with either their Celtic League or Interprovincial winning side of last season, and with such a young side sought to take every available opportunity to boost their confidence by putting scores on the board.
As evidence of London Irish's defensive intent, and with Leinster's initial scrum having experience a wee bit of bother, the home side went through six phases to finish exactly where they started before Chris Warner landed a 40-metre penalty.
For Irish, chances came and went, a preponderance of handling errors turnovers, both unforced and contact, compounding their profligacy. When they did engineer clear openings, the imposing Paul Sackey was twice denied by try-saving tackles from John McWeeney and Simon Keogh, and then by his own knock-on over the line.
Meantime, a Leinster break-out and a reversed penalty against Michael Horak for needlessly standing on the lively Keogh enabled Warner to make it 6-0. Jennings ran back the restart, Ben Gissing and Des Dillon making sizeable inroads for Warner to tag another penalty for offside.
Leinster gamely retreated, even withstanding 10 minutes without Jennings after a harsh sinbinning for his first offence at the breakdown. Eventually, on half-time, Everitt picked up an innocuous looking loose ball and suddenly swept upfield, and despite successive tackles by Keogh, Irish had enough support runners for Ryan Strudwick to score.
Warner having landed short and Andy Dunne having hit the post from long-range either side of the interval, nevertheless Leinster continued with their contrasting shoot-on-sight policy and Dunne nailed a fine angled penalty from 55 metres or so to make it 12-5.
However, Leinster were hit harder by the sinbinning of Aidan McCullan for a high tackle, Irish eventually muscling over from their umpteenth close-in line-out for Mike Worsley to score.
Cometh the hour and the dam burst once more when Geoff Appleford scored untouched from close-in after incessant recycling, Everitt converting and as the comings and goings from the sideline intensified, James Cockle scored a similar try for Mark Mapletoft's conversion to make it 24-12.
Deservingly though, Leinster had the final say when Mathew Leek attacked the gain line off a scrum 20 metres out, McWeeney calling for a reverse pass inside to straighten between two tacklers and take a third in scoring by the corner flag. Dunne's conversion theoretically set up the possibility of a Leinster win, but it would have been the mother of all steals. A game effort all the same.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: Warner pen 3-0; 18 mins: Warner pen 6-0; 20 mins: Warner pen 9-0; 40 mins: Strudwick try 9-5; 45 mins: Dunne pen 12-5; 50 mins: Kirke try 12-10; 60 mins: Appleford try, Everitt con 12-17; 71 mins: Cockle try, Mapletoft con 12-24; 78 mins: McWeeney try, Dunne con 19-24.
LEINSTER: P McKenna; S Keogh, A Magro, D Quinlan, J McWeeney; C Warner, B Willis; J Lyne, P Smyth (capt), P Coyle, B Gissing, A Kearney, A McCullan, D Dillon, S Jennings. Replacements: K Lewis for Magro (21 mins), N Treston for Coyle (32 mins), L Toland for Jennings, A Dunne for Quinlan (both half-time), G Hickie for Smyth, M Leek for McKenna, P Coyle for Lyne, S Jennings for Kearney (all 60 mins), G Brown for Keogh (65 mins), G Quinn for Gissing, S Whelan for Willis (both 70 mins), E Bohan for Treston (74 mins), F Baynes for McWeeney (79 mins). Sinbinned: Jennings (23-33 mins), McCullan (47-57 mins).
LONDON IRISH: M Horak; P Sackey, G Appleford, R Hoadley, P Rossouw; B Everitt, D Edwards; N Hatley, N Drotske, S Halford, R Strudwick (capt), J Fahrensohn, P Gustard, C Sheasby, D Danaher. Replacements: _ R Hardwick for Halford, M Worsley for Hatley, H Martens for Edwards (all 32 mins), J Cockle for Gustard, R Kirke for Drotske (both half-time), M Mapletoft for Hoadley (60 mins).
Referee: S McDowell (IRFU).
