Leinster too strong in inter-pro friendly

Connacht 3 Leinster 25

Leinster won this inter-pro friendly at Ericsson Park in Athlone in a game which finished six minutes early due to floodlight failure.

Both Connacht coach Steph Nel and his Leinster counterpart Matt Williams used the occasion for a worthwhile workout ahead of their important European games next weekend.

Leinster led 10-3 at the break after saturating a lot of Connacht pressure in the opening quarter. They went ahead after 14 minutes after referee John Sheehan failed to spot a knock-on in midfield before Brian O'Driscoll and Shane Horgan combined to send Girvan Dempsey through for a try.

Brian O'Meara added the points and also kicked a penalty after 24 minutes from the right-wing.

In between Connacht fly-half Mark McHugh reduced the margin with a penalty from the left.

The margin at the break might have been a lot closer but McHugh saw one penalty effort from distance come back off the crossbar and then saw another long range penalty hit the left post.

Leinster achieved a major breakthrough after three minutes of the second-half when Brian O'Driscoll broke for an excellent try, with O'Meara adding the points to put Leinster into a commanding 17-3 lead.

The game remained competitive throughout as both sides used their bench with Leinster crossing for a third try late in the game from Aidan McCullen.

SCORERS: Connacht: M McHugh, pen.

Leinster: B O'Meara, two pens, two cons; G Dempsey, try; B O¹Driscoll, try; A McCullen, try.

TEAMS:

Connacht: G Duffy; T Robinson, D O'Sullivan, S Moore, W Munn; M McHugh, M Walls; D McFarland, H Bourke, P Bracken; A Maher, R Frost; M Swift, E Peters, J O'Connor.

Replacements: J Muldoon for Swift, 55 mins; R McCormack for Bracken, 57 mins; M McPhail for Moore, 59 mins; C Rigney for Peters, 64 mins; J Norton for Robinson, 67 mins; C Keane for Walls, 67 mins. F Boiroux for McFarland, 71 mins;

Leinster: G Dempsey; D Quinlan, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; C Warner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan, S Byrne, P Coyle; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson.

Replacements: P McKenna for Dempsey, inj. 47 mins; A. McCullen for Gleeson, 54 mins; A Magro for Horgan, 55 mins; D Dillon for Costello, 59 mins; B O'Riodan for O'Meara, 67 mins; G Hickie for Byrne, 67 mins; B Gissing for Cullen, 68 mins. B Willis for D'Arcy, 72 mins; M Leigh for O'Driscoll, 72

mins.

Referee: J. Sheehan.