Dragons 18 Leinster 22:GUY EASTERBY insisted "nothing is won yet" after Leinster moved a step closer to an historic Pro12 and Heineken Cup double after they survived a late fightback from Newport Gwent Dragons to clinch a narrow win at Rodney Parade on Saturday.
A try from Jack McGrath and the boot of Ian Madigan proved the difference as Leinster established a 16-point advantage before the Dragons fought back with touchdowns from Dan Lydiate and Will Harries.
They now face Glasgow Warriors at the RDS on May 12th. Leinster manager Easterby said: “As we discovered last year winning the two competitions is a very difficult thing to do.
“We are just taking things week by week, It’s been a good season but we’ve won absolutely nothing yet. Our immediate focus is on a really tough game against Glasgow next week, a team who have already won at the RDS this year. They will come here with a lot of confidence.”
Madigan opened the scoring in Newport and booted Leinster into an early 9-3 lead as the Dragons errors’ were punished. Midway through the half Noel Reid released McGrath to score with a superbly timed pop pass.
Joe Schmidt’s men weathered a Dragons storm early in the second-half and should have put the result well out of reach when Madigan jinked through from inside his own half. The outhalf fired a pinpoint pass to Fionn Carr but the wing fumbled with a clear run to the line at his mercy. But Madigan managed to steer Leinster out of reach with two more penalties.
Following a sustained period of pressure Lydiate drove over from close range, with Adam Hughes converting to give the hosts a glimmer of hope. Then Will Harries squeezed in the corner at the death but it was a case of too little too late as Leinster survived.
Leinster selected an entirely changed starting line-up for the clash and Easterby was delighted with the young side’s victory.
He said: “People deserve the chance to put their hands up for the cup final and part of Saturday was about testing some of the guys’ mettle in a really tough environment. . . Rodney Parade is a tough place to go . . . so to get a win is fantastic. We got 16 points clear, we were sitting quite comfortable before we had to absorb some pressure but it’s still a great win from a young side.”
DRAGONS: H Amos; W Harries, A Hughes, A Smith, A Brew; L Robling, W Evans; N Williams, S Parry, N Buck, L Charteris, R Sidoli, D Lydiate, L Evans, T Faletau. Replacements: P Leach for Smith (40 mins), J Evans for Evans (60 mins), D Way for Buck (60), T Brown for Faletau (63), S Jones for Parry (66), P Price for Williams (66), J Groves for Charteris (67), J Dixon for Robling (70 mins).
LEINSTER: D Kearney; A Conway, B Macken, N Reid, F Carr; I Madigan, E Reddan; J McGrath, S Cronin, N White; D Toner, D Browne; K McLaughlin, D Ryan, L Auva’a. Replacements: H Van der Merwe for McGrath (40 mins), J Hagan for White (62), D Hudson for Kearney (65), A Dundon for Cronin (65), L McGrath for Reddan (69), M Flanagan for Toner (71), J Murphy for McLaughlin (78 mins).
Referee: M Mitrea (ITA).
