Celtic League/ Newport Gwent 31 Leinster 18: Leinster coach Michael Cheika knows it is games like this that decide titles, and his hopes of bringing the Celtic League crown back to Dublin took a serious dent at Newport Gwent Dragons.
The Six Nations Championship rendered both sides below strength but it was the Welsh youngsters and wily veterans who proved too strong for Leinster's young charges.
Kieran Lewis did show his potential with two well-taken tries, including a stunning length-of-the-field score late on, but without their international players Leinster were fighting the Dragons' fire with a water pistol.
The result represents a significant blow to Leinster's title credentials given the defeats suffered by the top two, Munster and Edinburgh.
"It was a missed opportunity," conceded Cheika. "All the time in the Celtic League you are not just playing the opposition but all the others teams as well. We let the pressure off ourselves to perform in this game and so we let the pressure off the top teams in the league.
"Sometimes you have to win games, even when you're playing poorly. We were poor in this game but we got zero out of it and that's probably all we deserved.
"There were a lot of stoppages in the game and that played into Newport's hands but we have to hold our hands up and admit we were poor."
One of the lengthier stoppages was after Eric Miller took exception to being used as a doormat by the Newport forwards only to concede a penalty for his troubles. It set the tone for the rest of the game.
Sensing his pack had the beating of Leinster, Dragons captain Jason Forster opted for a driving lineout and was duly rewarded with a try that saw Leinster trail 23-11 at half-time.
When Forster grabbed his second midway through the second half after Leinster's efforts to shove their way over the line were thwarted, the game was beyond their reach.
"I wasn't happy about the stamping incident, they (Newport) almost ripped Eric's arms off yet they got the penalty," said Cheika. "I was stunned but that was nothing to do with the game itself. You would have to say they outmuscled us and that was very disappointing."
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: A Thomas; G Wyatt, N Brew, J Bryant, B Breeze; C Warlow, G Baber; A Black, S Jones, R Thomas; A Hall, P Sidoli; J Ringer, R Oakley, J Forster (capt). Replacements: D Maddocks for Black, B Griffiths for Hall (both 62 mins), S Tuipulotu for Warlow (80 mins). Tries: Forster (2), Wyatt. Cons: Warlow (2). Pens: Warlow (4).
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; R Kearney, K Lewis, J Hepworth, D Hickie; F Contepomi (capt), G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green; A Byrnes, B Williams; E Miller, J Heaslip, K Gleeson. Replacements: B Gissing for Byrnes (39-40 mins and 62 mins), N Ronan for Heaslip (56 mins), R McCormack for Corrigan (76 mins). Tries: Lewis (2). Con: Contepomi. Pens: Contepomi (2).
Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland).
