Warriors score double over Leinster

Leinster 16 Celtic Warriors 37

Celtic Warriors completed a home-and-away double over luckless Leinster at Donnybrook, outscoring their hosts by four tries to one.

Tries from left wing Richard Mustoe, scrum-half Sililo Martens and centre Shaun James provided the platform for outside-half Neil Jenkins to convert all three and add a hat-trick of penalties before man-of-the-match Jon Bryant stretched over for the bonus score in injury time.

The Leinster outside-half went wide and right with an early penalty attempt from the Warriors’ 10-metre line before Mustoe touched down under Gary Brown’s challenge for his second league try after seven minutes, set up by centre partner Bryant.

Jenkins continued his peerless form with the touchline conversion before the visitors played it on the deck near their own line and Felipe Contepomi knocked over a 12th-minute penalty reply.

The 26-year-old South American showed a quick turn of pace to intercept a Bryant pass to race from his own 22 to score and convert for a 10-7 lead three minutes later.

Martens went under the Leinster posts on 17 minutes for a converted score as Warriors’ pressure begun to take its hold.

Contepomi hit over his third and fourth successes on 24 and 27 minutes to put Leinster in front 16-14 for the second time, but the Welsh wrangled the half time lead back with a close-range penalty from Jenkins.

Bryant ghosted through a midfield gap to see James over seven minutes after the restart to extend their lead, as Leinster consistently coughed up ball with the Warriors’ line in sight.

Jenkins landed his third penalty on 69 minutes for a 27-16 lead, and his fourth after replacement Brian O’Meara had tackled Martens without the ball with six minutes remaining.

Bryant’s injury time score saw the Glamorgan men glean their seventh bonus point of the tournament, pushing them into the top four with Jenkins’ fourth conversion a record 35th consecutive success with his boot.