Leinster dispatch 13-man Dragons
MATCH REPORT: Leinster scored five tries in a 33-10 bonus-point win over Dragons in the United Rugby Championship.
Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson, Ciaran Frawley, Charlie Ngatai and Scott Penny scored Leinster's tries with Ross Byrne converting four.
Aneurin Owen scored Dragons' try with Cai Evans kicking a penalty and a conversion.
It took Leinster eight minutes to open the scoring when skipper Sheehan finished off a driving line-out but Dragons soon responded with a penalty from Evans.
The wet conditions made handling difficult but the Dragons' pack did make a decent fist of testing their opponents to the full.
However, they were on the wrong side of the referee in scrum engagements, conceding six penalties in that area in the first half-hour to cost them a lot of territory.
It eventually told when Leinster scrumhalf Ben Murphy showed some initiative to quickly tap a penalty and race into the opposition's 22. From there another penalty and a pre-planned move sent Clarkson through the defence to score.
Byrne's conversion gave his side a 14-3 interval lead and within a minute that advantage had been extended.
Rio Dyer lost possession in his own half for Leinster to counter-attack in style with Frawley finishing off a sweeping move.
However, the visitors were dealt two blows in quick succession.
First Tommy O'Brien was helped off with a leg injury, before Owen chased a Rhodri Williams chip and won the race to touch down.
That cut the deficit to 21-10 but Dragons lost Jarrod Rosser and Aaron Wainwright to failed HIAs before a well-judged cross-field kick from Byrne created the bonus-point try for Ngatai.
The hosts had Taine Basham sent off for making head contact with his arm before Matthew Screech was yellow-carded, with Scott Penny's last-minute try harsh on Dragons.
Player of the Match
After a combative contest in the opening period, the Leinster pack gradually took control with Joe McCarthy at the forefront. Their line-out was exemplary; their scrum was dominant with three of their five tries coming from close-range forward pressure.
Play of the match
Murphy provided the spark late in the first half by racing away from a quickly taken penalty to set up a try for Clarkson and open up an 11-point half-time lead which proved too much for Dragons to claw back.
The scorers
For the Dragons
Try: Owen
Con: Evans
Pen: Evans
For Leinster
Tries: Sheehan, Clarkson, Frawley, Ngatai, Penny
Cons: R Byrne 4
Red card: Taine Basham (Dragons, 65)
Yellow card: Matthew Screech (Dragons, 69)
Teams
Dragons: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Steff Hughes (captain), 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Will Reed, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 George Nott, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rhodri Jones.
Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Luke Yendle, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Jack Dixon, 23 Ewan Rosser.
Leinster: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Tommy O'Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Jimmy O'Brien, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 James Culhane, 7 Will Connors, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan (captain), 1 Jack Boyle.
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Michael Ala'alatoa, 19 Max Deegan, 20 Scott Penny, 21 Cormac Foley, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Rob Russell.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies (Wales) and Mark Butcher (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)
* Picture credit: @leinsterrugby