Leinster ... 42 Newport ... 14: It was hard going but Leinster finally broke free last night to score four tries in the final quarter and garnish their win with a cherished bonus point. Perhaps more pertinently, they also injected themselves with a timely pick-me-up in advance of next week's European matters. Gerry Thornley at Donnybrook
Realistically, their defence of the Celtic League trophy hangs by a thread and they most probably need a favour from Bridgend at Cardiff today. But they could do no more than inflict Newport with a 10th successive defeat against Irish provinces and secure a bonus point. That they did, despite an unpromising first period, when referee Iain Ramage blew the game to a virtual standstill.
Unable to penetrate a stiff defence in that first period, thereafter Leinster avoided as many breakdowns (and, by extension, penalties) by passing in the tackle, however riskily, and thereby also injecting some badly needed tempo into proceedings.
Keith Gleeson, becoming much more prominent this season as an attacking support player as well as a defensive scavenger, really came into his own, and Brian O'Driscoll turned up the accelerator too.
The forwards upped their game, too, as Leinster began to run more freely, and there was a memorable try for the in-form Malcolm O'Kelly, as well as a deserving one for the hard-working Leo Cullen. It was a shame Shane Byrne, whose wife gave birth to twins yesterday, couldn't do likewise.
The win came at a cost, though,Eric Miller suffering a second break to his left hand that is again liable to sideline him for some time.
As anyone who had the misfortune to listen in on Ramage's mouthpiece for the Ireland-Samoa game last season can testify, the Scottish official doesn't seem to extract much joy from the job.
This was a fastidious performance in the extreme. Basically, the first period amounted to Brian O'Meara (who slipped smoothly from scrumhalf to outhalf throughout) kicking four out of six penalty attempts (the other two hitting the upright), while Jason Strange landed two from four for Newport. There wasn't much time for rugby in between the 10-6 penalty count.
Newport, admittedly, flagrantly lay up offside and, adjusting their tactics from last season's three wins over the Welsh club, Leinster didn't attempt to go around them, but rather kept punching up inside until the gaps appeared in the final quarter.
One of the few electric first-half moments was provided by Denis Hickie, who nearly scored with a scintillating 60-metre run but was caught at the flag by Matt Mostyn.
The half ended with Gleeson making a good steal off the base of a loose Newport scrum, only for Ramage to penalise him for not releasing even though O'Meara had moved the ball. It's hard to believe many referees would have made that call.
Upping the tempo on the resumption, Leinster were initially let down by a curiously one-off bad scrum, but good counter-attacking by Girvan Dempsey and Hickie kept them on the front foot.
Their frustration remained when Gleeson took a lovely line on to Chris Warner's pass to penetrate, but Warner was then adjuged to have fractionally flicked the inside pass forward before O'Meara gathered and scored. In fairness, Ramage was well positioned.
The breakthrough try duly came minutes later in any event. O'Driscoll, running hard and low to the ground at a variety of angles now kept the ball alive in the tackle, as did the supporting O'Kelly for Shane Horgan to power through Steve Ojomoh's tackle and round the posts.
When Newport turned over a back-row move just past the hour, Brian O'Riordan and O'Meara moved the ball out for O'Driscoll to straighten through and flip a reverse pass over his shoulder to Horgan.
Though O'Riordan's ensuing offload went to ground, Hickie pounced to score.
Running everything now, O'Meara and Warner moved ruck-ball inside their 22 wide to D'Arcy, who made ground and did even better to offload. Gleeson, true to form, was there in support and made it to half-way. Seeing he only had O'Kelly in support, he seemed to hesitate, but no matter, O'Kelly galloped home from 40-plus metres, with Strange making no inroads, to the loudest cheers of the night.
Within another three minutes, Leinster had scored their cherished fourth try. Gleeson, yet again, came from deep in taking the shortest of popped balls from O'Meara and then offloaded for Cullen to score under the posts.
Amid the customary plethora of mass substitutions, it hardly mattered that Newport manufactured a well-worked try for replacement hooker Paul Young at the death from a trademark, flat skip pass by Howarth.
SCORING SEQUENCE
12 mins Strange pen 0-3
17 mins O'Meara pen 3-3
19 mins O'Meara pen 6-3
21 mins O'Meara pen 9-3
24 mins O'Meara pen 12-3
29 mins Strange pen 12-6
34 mins O'Meara pen 15-6
49 mins O'Meara pen 18-6
50 mins Strange pen 18-9
52 mins Horgan try, O'Meara con 25-9
61 mins Hickie try 30-9
70 mins O'Kelly try 35-9
73 mins Cullen try, O'Meara con 42-9
79 mins Young try42-14
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; C Warner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Wallace, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacements: B O'Riordan for Warner (17-24 mins), (56-68 mins), D Dillon for Miller (half-time), E Byrne for Wallace (68 mins), P Smyth for S Byrne, A Kearney for O'Kelly, D Quinlan for O'Driscoll, A Magro for Hickie (all 76 mins).
NEWPORT: S Howarth; A Cadwallader, M Mostyn, S Williams, L Navaro; J Strange, O Tonu'u; C Jones, J Richards, A Garvey, S Raiwalui (capt), M Voyle, J Powell, A Powell, J Forster. Replacements: C Anthony for Garvey, S Ojomoh for A Powell (both 48 mins), P Young for Richards, A Wagstaff for Williams (both 62 mins). Sinbinned: Raiwalui (33-43 mins).
Referee: I Ramage (Scotland).
