PA Sport Staff
United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster made it 10 wins from 10 in all competitions, but had to work hard for a 20-12 victory over Connacht at the Aviva Stadium.
Tries from Andrew Osborne and Charlie Tector gave Leinster a 14-0 half-time lead, although they should have made more of a yellow card for Connacht centre Shane Jennings.
After watching Ross Byrne kick a penalty, Connacht capitalised on Lee Barron’s sin-binning to make it a five-point game, with Oisin Dowling and Jennings both crossing.
Mack Hansen was growing in influence for the westerners, yet a scrappy final 20 minutes ended with Leinster fly-half Byrne clinching the result with a 79th-minute penalty.
With 13 changes from last week, Leo Cullen’s men applied early pressure. Connacht dug in defensively with Bundee Aki and Jennings coming up with crucial plays.
Nineteen minutes in, Byrne used a zippy move off what was a mostly unreliable Leinster lineout to send Osborne racing over. Byrne converted.
Jennings then saw yellow for a late tackle on Luke McGrath and Connacht’s midfield was opened up again. Barrett neatly slipped Tector through to score, with Byrne converting.
Connacht briefly gained momentum through the running of Paul Boyle and Josh Ioane, until the latter had to come off injured.
Darragh Murray’s ability to steal Leinster’s lineout ball was a big positive for the visitors, along with Shamus Hurley-Langton’s turnover wins.
Playing into the wind on the restart, Byrne pushed the margin out to 17 points but Connacht responded well.
Leinster’s repeated penalties landed replacement Barron in the sin bin in the 51st minute, and the resulting tap penalty led to Dowling burrowing over.
Hurley-Langton and Hansen provided further spark, and with Leinster increasingly narrow in defence, Jennings was sent in behind the posts. Forde’s conversion closed the gap to 17-12.
Connacht captain Cian Prendergast did brilliantly to hold up Barron, denying him a certain try on the 70-minute mark.
Jimmy O’Brien was then binned for taking Hansen out in the air to give the visitors hope, but it was Byrne who had the final say for the table toppers.
