Leinster ease past the Dragons
Young flyhalf Jonny Sexton scored 12 points for Leinster as they recorded their first win of the new season with a 23-14 victory overthe Newport-Gwent Dragons on Saturday evening.
A busy first half ended with the home side leading just 9-6 despite having played half of the first forty with an extra man after both Gavin Thomas and Ashley Smith were sent to the sin-bin in the 19th and 33rd minutes respectively.
Exciting fullback Isa Nacewa bought the game to life in the second half with his try, giving his team a 14-6 lead. Summer signing Shaun Berne added a drop goal shortly after that before the Dragons threatened to come back into the game.
A well-worked Martyn Thomas try and a James Arlidge penalty cut the gap to just six points but another Berne drop goal and a Sexton penalty was enough to edge the Heineken Cup Champions home.
The Scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Nacewa
Pens: Sexton 4
DG: Berne 2
For the Dragons:
Tries: Martyn Thomas
Pens: Arlidge 2
DG: Arlidge
Yellow Cards: Gavin Thomas (Dragons – 19 min), Ashley Smith (Dragons – 33min), Jonny Sexton (Leinster – 77 min)
The teams:
Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Shaun Berne, 11 David Kearney, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Chris Keane, 8 Sean O’Brien, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Leo Cullen (captain), 3 Mike Ross, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Jason Harris-Wright, 17 Stan Wright, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Stephen Keogh, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Gordon D’Arcy, 22 Simon Keogh.
Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Tom Riley, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Richard Fussell, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 tbc, 7 Grant Webb, 6 Gavin Thomas, 5 Luke Charteris (captain), 4 Robert Sidoli, 3 Nigel Hall, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Ali McKenzie.
Replacements: 16 Duane Goodfield, 17 Hugh Gustafson, 18 Gethin Robinson, 19 Adam Jones, 20 James Harris, 21 Jason Tovey, 22 Alex Walker.
Referee: Graham Knox (Scotland)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Jonathan Peak (Ireland)
TMO: Tom Redmond (Ireland)
