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Dragons
16
V
39
Saturday September 02
KO 2:15 PM
GP14
Rodney Parade,
Newport
Leinster
MATCH REPORT

Dragons v Leinster Match Report

Bernard Jackman's Dragons were beaten 39-16 by Leinster in their first clash of the new Guinness PRO14 season.

 

On a sunny afternoon, Leinster scored tries through Jamison Gibson-Park, a penalty score, Jordan Larmour, Dan Leavy and Cathal Marsh. 

Dragons were awarded a penalty try of their own and Gavin Henson kicked three penalties, but Leo Cullen's men came out on top, mainly thanks to their dominant forward pack.

On a pristine new pitch at Rodney Parade, Leinster started sloppily. Sean Cronin overthrew the first line-out, and Henson put the home side ahead with an 11th minute penalty. 

Ross Byrne soon levelled the scores up, but the first quarter showed Cullen's outfit were clearly in a game. It was a tight affair, but the opening score was then created by Isa Nacewa.

The Leinster skipper danced through a gap and though the ball was held up over the line, Gibson-Park picked the ball up from the back of the resulting scrum to dive over.

Byrne added the simple extras from in front of the posts and exchanged kicks with Henson to make it 13-6 at the break.

Revved up by Cullen, Leinster were a different animal after the break. Their forwards came to the party and quickly earned a penalty try after the Dragons sacked a driving maul.

Matthew Screech was yellow carded and the conversion was automatic. Then, five minutes later, Larmour was given an unopposed run to the line after finding the ball in space. Byrne couldn't add the extras. It failed to his the fact Leinster were now in control despite Henson's third penalty.

Leavy soon added the crucial fourth score with Byrne this time converting, and it opened up an entertaining final 15 minutes.

The Dragons got a consolation through a penalty score after Adam Byrne tackled a rampaging Ashton Hewitt high and received a yellow card.

Once again the extra two points were taken as a given, but Leinster had the last laugh with replacement Marsh diving over and converting his own score.

Dragons T C D P
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6James Thomas
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-- -- 3 --
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Leinster T C D P
1Cian Healy
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2Sean Cronin
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3Michael Bent
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4Devin Toner
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5Scott Fardy
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6Dan Leavy
1 -- -- --
7Josh Van Der Flier
-- -- -- --
8Max Deegan
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9Jamison Gibson-Park
1 -- -- --
10Ross Byrne
-- 2 2 --
11Jordan Larmour
1 -- -- --
12Isa Nacewa
-- -- -- --
13Rory O'Loughlin
-- -- -- --
14Adam Byrne
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15Rob Kearney
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REPLACMENTS
Dragons T C D P
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Leinster T C D P
16James Tracy
-- -- -- --
17Ed Byrne
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18Andrew Porter
-- -- -- --
19James Ryan
-- -- -- --
20Jack Conan
-- -- -- --
21Nick McCarthy
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22Cathal Marsh
1 1 -- --
23Barry Daly
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