A late change to the Connacht starting lineup didn’t phase the Westerners and right from the kickoff pressure on the Leinster catch gave Connacht a lineout deep in the Leinster half. Strong running from Henry Fa’afili, Michael Swift and Matthew Jarvis kept the hosts pinned in their own half for the opening exchanges and after just 4 minutes Niall O’Connor stepped up to kick a penalty just inside his own half. The kick had the legs but floated just left of the posts. He made amends 4 minutes later to give Connacht the deserved lead. Isa Necewa levelled the score when Dylan Rogers was harshly yellow carded in front of the Connacht posts after 10 minutes. Superb covering tackles from Brian Tuohy and Henry Fa’afili stymied the Leinster attack. O’Connor put Connacht in the lead again after 15 minutes with another penalty from the halfway line. A lapse in the Connacht defence saw Devin Toner slip past Rodney Ah You to score the first try of the match after 21 minutes, Necewa missing the touchline conversion. Another excellent covering tackle from Tuohy brought down former Connacht scrumhalf Cillian Willis after he slipped his tack but it wasn’t long before Connacht were on the attack again, Brett Wilkinson was unlucky to be beaten to the Leinster try line by Ian Madigan following a Frank Murphy kick-through. Johnny O’Connor had a magnificent game at 7 tackling everyone and everything and it wasn’t long before one of his trademark turnovers gave Connacht the platform to launch an attack into the Leinster half that ended with Ray Ofisa sprinting in for his 1^st try of the season. O’Connor converted and Connacht were back in the lead with 6 minutes to go in the 1^st half. Flavin, Wilkinson and Ofisa continued to disrupt the Leinster rucks and, coupled with some huge hits from McCarthy and Swifty led to open space for Tuohy to finish off a slick backline move. The conversion added left Connacht in a commanding 20 points to 8 lead at half-time.

Isa Necewa scored a penalty 3 minutes into the second half after Connacht failed to deal with the restart and the men in Blue had much of the early possession. The Connacht defence continued to soak up the Leinster attack and after 10 minutes of defence 3 points from the boot of Isa Necewa was all the hosts came away with. Brian Tuohy was unlucky to be brought down just short of the line after a turnover deep inside the Connacht half. Despite Leinster throwing everything at the Connacht line the defence stood firm. Referee Peter Fitzgibbon made his mark on the game with a number of penalties for both sides, Henry Fa’afili being judged not releasing the ball inside the Leinster half giving Ian Madigan the opportunity to bring the hosts to within 3 points with 20 minutes to go. Shane Layden made his senior debut when he replaced Mark McCrea. The 19 year old was drafted into the squad when Eoin Griffin pulled up with a injury. Luke Fitzgerald crashed over for a try after the Connacht scrum was dismantled 10m out from their own line. Necewa converted to give Leinster a 4 point lead with 15 minutes to go. Connacht tried to pressure the Leinster line but could not break the gain line. On 75 mins, Connacht were penalised for going offside at a lineout and Necewa stretched the home side’s lead to seven. However the killer blow came right at the lastkick of the game when Ian Madigan kicked a drop goal from 40 metres to deny Connacht a loosing bonus point. Disappointing second half from Connacht who now have two weeks to pick themselves up before they welcome Cardiff to the Sportsground. Tickets are on sale now from www.ticketmaster.ie

Connacht:

Matthew Jarvis, Mark McCrea, Gavin Duffy ©, Henry Fa’afili, Brian Tuohy, Niall O’Connor, Frank Murphy, Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin, Dylan Rogers, Michael Swift, Mike McCarthy, John Muldoon, Johnny O’Connor, Ray Ofisa

Replacements:

Ethienne Reynecke, Rodney Ah You, Ronan Loughney, TJ Anderson, Dave Gannon, Paul O’Donohoe, Dave McSharry, Shane Layden.

Leinster:

Isa Necewa, Fionn Carr, Eoin O’Malley, Luke Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney, Ian Madigan, Cillian Willis, Heinke can der Merwe, Richard Strauss, Jamie Hagan, Steven Sykes, Devin Toner, Kevin McLoughlin, Rhys Ruddock ©, Leo Auva’a, Aaron Dundon, Jack McGrath, Nathan White, Damian Browne, Dominic Ryan, John Cooney, Brendan Macken, Darren Hudson.

Pic (C) www.inpho.ie.