Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Leinster dominate Dragons as Cian Healy breaks record

By PA
Cian Healy of Leinster after the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Replacement Joe McCarthy’s 64th-minute try sealed the bonus point for Leinster in a pedestrian 34-6 BKT United Rugby Championship win over the Dragons.

ADVERTISEMENT

Playing at the Aviva Stadium with the RDS under redevelopment, Leo Cullen’s men celebrated Cian Healy setting a new record as Leinster’s most-capped player.

A subdued first half ended with Leinster leading 10-6 thanks to unconverted tries from captain Jack Conan (17 minutes) and Ross Byrne (37). Lloyd Evans landed two penalties.

Video Spacer

‘That Manie Libbok kick will follow him’ | RPTV

The Boks Office crew react to South Africa’s one-point loss to Argentina, with all to play for in Nelspruit this coming weekend. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Video Spacer

‘That Manie Libbok kick will follow him’ | RPTV

The Boks Office crew react to South Africa’s one-point loss to Argentina, with all to play for in Nelspruit this coming weekend. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Conan scored during Chris Coleman’s sin-binning, and player of the match Max Deegan struck six minutes into the second half. McCarthy, Jordan Larmour and Aitzol King made it a 29-point margin in the end.

Veteran prop Healy’s 281st appearance saw him overhaul Devin Toner, but Dragons did not read the script. It took Jimmy O’Brien’s ankle tap to prevent Ewan Rosser from racing over early on.

Fixture
United Rugby Championship
Leinster
34 - 6
Full-time
Dragons RFC
All Stats and Data

However, Coleman made head contact with Thomas Clarkson in the 16th minute following Ben Carter’s initial tackle.

Conan duly crashed over to take advantage of the yellow card. Byrne, who swung a pass wide in the build-up, missed the difficult conversion.

ADVERTISEMENT

Two obstruction calls spoiled Leinster mauls, and Evans rewarded Brodie Coghlan’s breakdown work with a 25th-minute penalty.

Approaching the break, Byrne nipped inside Coghlan’s tackle to reach out for the line, but Evans’ last-minute penalty left just four points in it.

Leinster upped the physicality on the restart, aided by a Conan turnover. Deegan muscled over from close range, giving Byrne a straightforward conversion for 17-6.

The doughty Dragons failed to capitalise on an overlap when Harry Wilson elected to kick, and their challenge gradually petered out.

ADVERTISEMENT

Conan’s lineout transfer had McCarthy powering over in the left corner, and Larmour and replacement King, with his first senior score from a long Harry Byrne pass, took the hosts’ try haul to six.

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

TRENDING
TRENDING The Waikato young gun solving one of rugby players' 'obvious problems' Injury breeds opportunity for Waikato entrepreneur
Search