‘Ugly’ Leinster put squeeze on Agen

FIVE points down with 15 minutes left In dark and deepest France, few people would have given Leinster much hope of securing their first away win of the Heineken Cup campaign.

With Felipe Contepomi’s kicking skills sorely absent and their set-piece unreliable, problems were more evident than solutions.

So, how come by the time referee Tony Spreadbury blew the final whistle, Leinster had engineered a 12-point victory, buttressing their own European ambitions and denying the French the consolation of a bonus point? They did it by playing ugly. The final try – a pushover effort from prop Ronan McCormack – said it all. Agen were squeezed out of the game in the last quarter, like pips from a lemon.