Contepomi kicking lifts off-key Leinster as Dragons fail to fire

Leinster 33 Dragons 14

The home team could not have asked for a worse start but they were very much the architects of their own misfortune.

Tongan, Sione Tuipulotu, took possession of a loose Christian Warner kick before beautifully feeding Hal Luscombe who, in turn, transferred swiftly to Leigh Hinton who dived over unopposed.

Leinster's problems continued for most of the opening half with line outs and kicking proving to be of particular concern.

Luckily, the Dragons failed to build on their opening salvo and two Felipe Contepomi penalties after 14 and 27 minutes left the bare minimum between the sides.

There was little to choose between two teams struggling for any fluidity in the first 40, the difference being that fortune favoured the Irish side.

Hinton saw two penalties narrowly miss their target approaching the break while Contepomi landed his third of the game after 38 minutes to claim a 9-7 lead.

It got better for Leinster too, with Warner cutting through the cover to initiate a series of phases that ended with Guy Easterby sending Robert Kearney over the line for a 14-7 half time lead.

Leinster were unable to turn the screw in the third quarter but another window opened when the visitors' Andrew Hall was sin-binned after 52 minutes for deliberately spoiling at a ruck. Contepomi made the Dragons pay double by landing the penalty.

60 seconds later, that good work was almost undone with a Dragons drive only being stopped on the Leinster line. Kearney was himself shown yellow for the same offence as Hall but the lead was stretched to 13 when Contepomi landed his fourth penalty.

The Dragons kept the pot boiling with a Luscombe try eight minutes from the end after some clever kicking from Kevin Morgan and Gareth Baber.

Contepomi ended the debate with two late penalties before Girvan Dempsey landed a late try to put the game to bed.

Scorers: Leinster: Kearney, Dempsey (a try each), Contepomi (7 pens, 1 conversion). Dragons: Hinton (1 try, 2 cons), Luscombe (1 try).

LEINSTER: G. Dempsey, G. Brown, K, Lewis, F. Contepomi, R. Kearney, C. Warner, G. Easterby, R. Corrigan, B. Jackman, W. Green, A. Byrnes, B. Gissing, C. Potts, K. Gleeson, J. Heaslip.

Replacements: D. Blaney for Jackman, S. Horgan for Warner, D. Hickie for Brown (59 mins), R. McCormack for Green, B. O'Meara for Easterby (68 mins), S. Crawford for Byrnes (76 mins), N. Ronan for Gleeson (84 mins).

DRAGONS: K. Morgan, G. Wyatt, H. Luscombe, S. Tuipulotu, L. Hinton, C. Harlow, G. Baber, D. Maddocks, S. Jones, R. Thomas, I. Gough, L. Charteris, A. Hall, J. Ringer, R. Oakley.

Replacements: Brown for Jones (40 mins), A. Bryan for Maddocks (47 mins), A. Black for Oakley (50 mins), J. Forster for Ringer (53 mins), Ringer for Gough (65 mins).

Referee: A. Ireland (SRU).