Cronin and Kearney fire

Newport Gwent Dragons 19 Leinster 26

It may have been Saint David’s Day but the Dragons failed to fire as Leinster ran riot with a dominant first-half display.

Cronin grabbed a quick-fire double and Dave Kearney also crossed as the Dubliners cruised into a 19-9 half-time lead.

The Dragons fought back with a try from Ieuan Jones but Kearney put the result beyond doubt.

Steffan Jones crossed at the death to secure a losing bonus-point for the home side.

The victory sees Leinster close the gap on Glasgow in the RaboDirect Pro12 table and they face the Scottish province next.

Bolstered by five returning Ireland internationals they were far more experienced than the Dragons and dominated from the opening minute against a side that lost their last home encounter 60-3.

The hosts were clearly short of confidence and they were caught cold as Leinster got the scoreboard ticking after just 50 seconds.

They worked an overlap with ease and Luke Fitzgerald sent Cronin over for his first.

Steffan Jones struck back for the hosts but the classy Dubliners quickly stretched their advantage.

Fergus McFadden gave Ireland assistant Mark Tainton, who was in the stands, something to think about with a powerful break and superb pass for Cronin to score in the same corner.

Leinster continued to dominate and Rhys Ruddock rampaged off the back of a scrum and offloaded to Kearney to score, with Madigan converting.

Jones added a penalty and drop-goal to make the scores 19-9 at half-time and the Dragons continued their resurgence after the break.

But Kearney’s try in between the Dragons No.8 and fly-half was enough to secure the victory.

Scorers for Dragons: Tries: I Jones, S Jones. Pens: S Jones 2. DG: S Jones.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: S Cronin 2, D Kearney 2. Cons: I Madigan 3.

DRAGONS: D Evans (T Prydie 75); A Hughes, P Leach, J Dixon, H Amos, S Jones, J Evans (W Evans 72); P Price (A Coundley 52), S Parry (H Gustafson 67), N Buck (D Way 67), I Nimmo (A Jones 67), J Groves (R Sidoli 72), L Evans (capt), N Cudd, I Jones.

LEINSTER: L Fitzgerald; D Kearney, B Macken (E O’Malley 52), F McFadden (A Goodman 75), F Carr, I Madigan, E Reddan (J Cooney 72); J O’Connell (J McGrath 52), S Cronin (A Dundon 72), J Hagan (M Bent 47), M Flanagan (L Cullen 47), D Toner, D Ryan (J Murphy 61), S Jennings, R Ruddock.

Referee: D Wilkinson (IRFU).