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Leinster registered a 20-33 bonus win over Glasgow in the Heineken Cup at Hughenden.
The visitors scored tries from Kieran Lewis, Ciaran Potts and a spectacular finish from Gordon D’Arcy,with Felipe Contepomi scorng a try in a thirteen-point haul, though Glasgow did score three tries in an entertaining match.
Dan Parks had a chance to put his side in front on six minutes after Keith Gleeson put a pass astray during a Leinster attack. The Irish province were subsequently penalised for not rolling away from play, but Parks missed his kick from 35 metres out.
Two minutes later Contepomi put Michael Cheika’s men in front. The hosts gave away a penalty for not releasing the ball quickly enough, and the Argentine international put his effort straight between the posts.
The hosts were level on 16 minutes, however, after Tim Barker swept through the Leinster defence, only for the visitors to concede a penalty. Parks duly converted, though it would be his one and only score of the day.
The first try of the match came three minutes later when Contepomi made a great break forward. The ball fell to Jackman and eventually made its way back to the fly-half, who sent a long pass outside to Keith Gleeson. The St. Mary’s man offloaded to D’Arcy, who found Kieran Lewis in space, and the forward had the easiest of runs to complete the move.
Scrum-half Graeme Beveridge made the break. The ball found its way to Parks, who passed outside to Graeme Morrison for the finish. The Scottish side’s kicker missed the chance to add the extras though, and then missed a penalty in the 35th minute.
Parks’ miserable day was then compounded by Contepomi who calmly split the posts with a penalty from the half-way line three minutes later.
The points put some breathing space between the two sides, but better was to come when Leinster added a second try just before the interval.
Malcolm O’Kelly collected the ball from the line out and the Irish province drove forward to the Glasgow try line, to allow Potts turn off the back of the maul and touch down for the score.
Cheika’s side found themselves under huge pressure at the beginning of the second half and Glasgow eventually got the try their intensity deserved on 46 minutes.
Again, the pass came from Beveridge and Morrison drove for the line, breaking through Gleeson’s tackle, to reduce the gap to three points. Unfortunately for the Warriors, Parks missed the conversion, continuing his unusally poor form for the day. He missed another kick on goal on 53 minutes and got called ashore shortly afterwards.
The away supporters thought they had another try just three minutes later, but a video replay showed that Robert Kearney failed to get the vital touch down, dropping the ball under pressure from Andrew Henderson and Scott Lawson.
However, the referee brought play back for a Glasgow offside and Contepomi extended his team’s advantage with resulting penalty.
The best phases of play were yet to come for the Irish province though. First, Contepomi wrong footed the home defence before cantering over for a try, and then Gordon D’Arcy showed the crowd some of his considerable skills with an individual finish 13 minutes later to secure the bonus win.
Again, it was preceeded by a break from Contepomi, who involved Shane Horgan and Jamie Heaslip, which allowed D’Arcy to chip ahead, catch the ball and touch down beyond the try line.
Glasgow had the final say, however, when Henderson broke through, but it was too little too late, even though Colin Gregor did add the conversion.
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