Leinster secure first win to end Connacht’s fine run

Leinster 21 Connacht 6

Although the westerners were dominant as much as they were dominated, the home side still deserved their victory for the manner in which they took the crucial scores in a match that was generally evenly balanced.

Relieved Leinster coach Gary Ella expressed delight at the win: "The guys had to dig deep throughout the game.

"I thought they did very well to put the pieces together in the third quarter. After all, we lost captain Leo Cullen at half-time and had to survive a lot of pressure at the start of the second half. They came through that very well and hit back strongly in the last 20 minutes.

"They put the pieces together and kept Connacht under pressure for enough minutes to score the tries and put the game beyond reach."

Cullen has been struggling with a shoulder injury, and came off as a precautionary measure last night. He is set to undergo surgery in the near future which will rule him out for the remainder of the season.

Connacht stormed into an early lead courtesy of Eric Elwood. The out half's three pointer was no more than the visitors deserved because Matt Mostyn was unlucky not to have got in for a try minutes earlier.

Nevertheless, Leinster's Brian O'Meara earning his 51st cap was able to put his side back on level terms and then shoot them ahead with two accurate penalties.

Leinster, though, were living dangerously and Michael Swift had the ball knocked from his grasp as he ploughed over their line in the 17th minute.

The Donnybrook crowd were surely relieved to win the subsequent scrum and clear the danger but the moment of impact had consequences. Star full back Brendan Burke paid the price for his fine tackle by having to retire with a shoulder injury to add to Leinster's current injury crisis.

Ella's side were happy just to concede a penalty in the dying moments of that opening half. Tom Carter plundered possession from a Leinster line out and was taken down inches short of the Leinster line.

In the recycling process, Conor McPhillips was held up short before Elwood struck his second penalty as Des Dillon was shown the yellow card for a professional foul.

But Leinster did strike back before the break. With the last kick of the half, O'Meara guided over a penalty to give his side a three point lead.

Connacht enjoyed much more of the play in the early stages of the second half.

Taking advantage of the continued absence of Dillon and then the reduction of the Leinster ranks to 13 following Emmett Byrne's ten minute dismissal for collapsing a scrum Connacht should have got some reward.

They won three penalties in succession, each time electing to take a scrum and in the last effort, they knocked the ball forward with the line at their mercy.

The upshot of it all was they got no reward for their efforts notwithstanding two speculative drop goal attempts by Mark McHugh, the hero of last year's dramatic late victory on the same ground.

Then, following the twin substitution of Eric Elwood and Tim Allnutt, replaced by David Hewitt and Shane Moore respectively, Leinster struck with a dramatic try.

Matthew Leek took the ball outside the Connacht '22 and weaved past three players to score at the posts and give O'Meara a simple conversion for a 16-6 lead.

It got worse for Connacht with 13 minutes to go. Dillon, always a thorn in the side, was held up short but managed to feed the ball back and substitute Aidan Kearney picked up beautifully to crash over for an unconverted try.

That was really the critical blow for Connacht who huffed and puffed in the last minutes in a bid to save the game. But really, that Kearney try had knocked the heart out of their challenge.

LEINSTER: B. Burke, J. McWeeney, J. Downey, D. Quinlan, G. Brown, M. Leek, B. O'Meara, E. Byrne, G. Hickie, P. Coyle, L. Cullen (captain), B. Gissing, N. Breslin, D. Dillon, S. Jennings. Replacements. D. O'Shea for B. Burke (27 injured), A. Kearney for Cullen (40, injured), D. Treston for Coyle (73), D. Blaney for Hickie (77). N. Ronan for Breslin (80).

CONNACHT: M. McHugh, M. Mostyn, D. Yapp, T. Allnutt (captain), C. McPhillips, E. Elwood, C. Keane, R. Hogan, B. Jackman, F. Boiroux, D. Brown, A. Farley, M. Swift, J. O'Sullivan, T. Carter. Replacements. C. O'Loughlin for Keane (49), D. Hewitt for Elwood, S. Moore for Allnutt (both 58), P. Neville for Carter (62)., J. Fogarty for Jackman (68), A. Clarke for Hogan (70, injured).

Referee. H. Watkins (Wales)