Leinster 35 Dragon 13:Argentinian star Felipe Contepomi worked his magic at Donnybrook as Leinster moved up to second in the Magners League on the back of a four-try dismissal of the Dragons.
Contepomi was at his classy best, wracking up 25 points — including two sensational first half tries — and working his way between the inside centre and fly half berths. His influence was so much that he even had time to be sin-binned for hands in the ruck in first half injury-time.
Restored to their full compliment, Leinster roared to victory with tries from Christian Warner and Gary Brown clinching their bonus point. The Dragons, captained by flanker Jamie Ringer for the first time, troubled the hosts early on and their exuberance deservedly saw full-back Gareth Wyatt charge over for a ninth-minute try.
USA internationals Mike Hercus and Paul Emerick pared open the Leinster defence for the score. Emerick picked a great line to thunder onto the former's pass and he fed Wyatt, to his left, who made the line despite Brown's last-gasp tackle. Hercus missed the conversion — he had a poor night with the boot, missing four shots in total — and Leinster soon took control.
Warner, making his 50th appearance for the Irish province, was just a pass away from sending Denis Hickie over on 13 minutes, but he was intercepted. Contepomi cracked over two penalties — the second after Dragons hooker Kieran Crawford had seen yellow for coming in at the side of a ruck — to nudge Leinster in front before Hercus landed his only penalty success on 29 minutes.
Leinster hit fifth gear then as the mesmeric Contepomi took centre stage. Only 10 metres out from the visitors' line and ducking and weaving like a boxer, the Puma somehow danced past eight would-be tacklers before crashing over for an outrageous 33rd-minute try. He converted and then seven minutes later, Contepomi linked with Warner before skating around four defenders — the first being a clearly frustrated Ringer — to notch his second try.
Paul Turner's men hit back in injury-time when numbers out wide on the left saw winger Richard Fussell evade Luke Fitzgerald's grasp to dot down. Hercus' conversion attempt tailed away to the right and Leinster had a 20-13 advantage for the interval.
Hercus missed his second penalty shot before Warner, dashing onto Contepomi's pass, slipped through for a galvanising try just short of the hour mark. Contepomi added the extras and just five minutes later, Fussell was badly caught out when Brown waltzed past him, after a scrum had gone against the head, to dive over in the right corner.
Leinster were rampant and the Dragons' bulkier pack, with Colin Charvis brought on for the closing stages, just could not make a difference. Contepomi added a meaningless penalty to complete Leinster's eleventh straight home win in all competitions.
