Agen 13 Leinster 25:Ronan McCormack plunged over for his first Heineken Cup try as Leinster strengthened their grip on Pool Two with a disciplined defeat of French side Agen.
An injury-time drive at Stade Armandie saw McCormack, the former Connacht and Ulster prop, crash over to deny Agen a losing bonus point and send Michael Cheika's men six points clear at the top of the table.
This was a great performance from Leinster, with tireless number eight Jamie Heaslip, who turned 23 yesterday, and experienced winger Denis Hickie sharing out the province's other tries.
Heaslip made a superb support run to barge over in the first half and Hickie, taking his Heineken Cup try tally to 19, used his pace to outrun the Agen defence just past the hour-mark.
Having trailed 10-8 at the interval, the visitors bounced back with Hickie's try and an injury-time haul of ten points - replacement Andy Dunne dinked over a drop goal before McCormack's muscular effort - giving them the breathing space they deserved.
Boasting a fortified pack, with five changes from last week's 26-10 reversal in Dublin, Agen sought to take on Leinster up front, backed by their boisterous home crowd.
They did show glimpses of their best, but Agen's front eight were never allowed to totally dominate and Leinster newcomer Stan Wright, who suffered some criticism on his debut seven days ago, battled well at the scrum.
Nonetheless, fly-half Jerome Miquel flung over an early penalty from 35 metres to confirm an encouraging start from Agen.
Leinster lost their hooker Brian Blaney early on, but the setback was lessened by replacement Bernard Jackman's fine set-piece display.
Assuming the kicking duties in Felipe Contepomi's absence, Gordon D'Arcy levelled from right in front of the posts on 16 minutes.
The Ireland centre missed a second penalty soon after but Christian Warner, the man in Contepomi's number 10 shirt, then lit the touch paper for Leinster's win with a superb line break.
The Australian broke through the Agen defence, linked with Hickie and a great charge through from Heaslip saw him celebrate his birthday weekend in style.
D'Arcy missed the conversion and Leinster were immediately brought back down to earth by Agen's Fijian star Rupeni Caucaunibuca.
With a bouncing ball deceiving Girvan Dempsey, stocky winger Caucau burst through, lapping up possession to ghost over for his second try in as many games.
Miquel was successful with his conversion attempt - pushing Agen into a 10-8 lead at the break - but his two penalty misses either side of half-time robbed the hosts of a much-needed buffer.
A 45th-minute penalty from Miquel extended Agen's lead to five points, however Hickie's try gave Leinster the catalyst to push on for the win.
Chris Whitaker, who was busy throughout in his best game for his new employers, picked out Hickie who showed great pace to get over for Leinster's second try. Dempsey stepped up to add the extras for a 15-13 lead.
Dunne, who was playing for Old Belvedere in the AIB League last week, nudged Leinster five points clear when he nailed an excellent 40-metre drop goal in injury-time, and McCormack's rolling maul score was the nail in Agen's coffin.
