Leinster fell to a 26-20 defeat to the Glasgow Warriors at Hughenden on Friday…
Leinster fell to a 26-20 defeat to the Glasgow Warriors at Hughenden on Friday but claimed a losing bonus point in the process to retain their position at the top of the Magners League .
Gordon D’Arcy capped a fine, gutsy display with a brace of tries either side of half-time, with skipper Felipe Contepomi chipping in with ten points, but it wasn’t enough as Leinster crashed to their second successive defeat on the road.
Two landmarks on the night were Kevin McLaughlin’s impressive debut as a second half replacement for Cameron Jowitt, while Reggie Corrigan joined Shane Byrne as the joint most capped Leinster player of all time when he came on to make his 135th appearance for the province.
Hefin O’Hare’s 11th minute try in the corner started proceedings for the hosts before Contepomi struck back with a penalty three minutes later. Parks regained the five-point advantage with a penalty in the 21st minute before Rory Lamont scorched clear to touch down.
Leading 13-3 as the interval approached, Glasgow were looking dangerous but Jamie Heaslip found space and delivered a beautiful looping pass to D’Arcy to race clear and score, with Contepomi adding the points, to leave the score at 13-10 at the break.
Three minutes into the second half, D’Arcy took a fine Christian Warner pass to run past the Warriors defence and score under the posts.
Contepomi added the conversion and added a late penalty to ensure a bonus point but a breakaway try from Thom Evans and eight more points from the boot of out-half Parks helped the Scottish side to a deserved 26-20 victory which keeps the pressure at the top of the Magners League table.
GLASGOW SCORERS: H. O’Hare / R. Lamont / T. Evans (1 try each), D. Parks (3 penalties, 1 conversion)
LEINSTER SCORERS: G. D’Arcy (2 tries), F. Contepomi (2 penalties, 2 conversions)
GLASGOW WARRIORS:
15: Rory Lamont
14: Hefin O’Hare
13: Graeme Morrison
12: Scott Barrow
11: Thom Evans
10: Dan Parks
9: Graeme Beveridge
1: Justin Va’a
2: Fergus Thomson*
3: Euan Murray*
4: Andy Newman
5: Alastair Kellock* CAPTAIN
6: Steve Swindall
7: John Barclay*
8: John Beattie*
REPLACEMENTS:
16: Scott Lawson*
17: Kevin Tkachuk
18: James Eddie
19: Andrew Wilson*
20: Donnie Macfadyen
21: Colin Gregor
22: Colin Shaw
* indicates member of the Scottish Institute of Sport
LEINSTER:
15: Girvan Dempsey (Rob Kearney, 77)
14: Shane Horgan
13: Gordon D’Arcy
12: Christian Warner
11: Denis Hickie (Luke Fitzgerald, 71)
10: Felipe Contepomi CAPTAIN
9: Chris Whitaker
1: Stanley Wright
2: Brian Blaney
3: Will Green (Reggie Corrigan, 58-68, blood)
4: Trevor Hogan
5: Malcolm O’Kelly (Owen Finegan, 50)
6: Cameron Jowitt (Kevin McLaughlin, 71)
7: Keith Gleeson
8: Jamie Heaslip
REPLACEMENTS NOT USED:
Harry Vermaas, Guy Easterby
REFEREE: Tim Hayes (WRU), SUB REFEREE: David Jack (SRU), TOUCH JUDGE: Gary Duncan (SRU)
