Connacht 23

Leinster 34

By JOHN FALLON at Dexcom Stadium

CIARÁN Frawley scored the decisive try as URC champions Leinster spoiled Connacht’s historic occasion of opening the completed €40m Dexcom Stadium on Saturday night.

Frawley didn’t celebrate his clinching try against a Connacht side he will join in the summer when he will again link up with Stuart Lancaster.

It was a much improved Connacht display from the one which saw them mauled 52-17 when they met at Aviva Stadium earlier this month.

Centre Charlie Tector, who crowned a fine display with a try, said they knew they would need to dig deep given the enormity of the occasion for Connacht.

“They really put it up to us, we knew they would. The stadium is class but we felt if we worked on the basics and got them right then we would be in contention,” said Tector.

It’s a tenth win in a row for Leinster in the league and Europe and they produced the goods in the final quarter when the contest hung in the balance.

The sides were deadlocked 13-13 at the end of a cracking opening half with a fiery atmosphere from the off in front of the capacity crowd of 12,481 as a new era dawned for Connacht.

Connacht had an edge in the scrum with new loosehead Billy Bohan superb but Leinster were on top in the lineout.

Leo Cullen knew the value of an early Leinster score to dampen the home crowd and scrum-half Fintan Gunne duly delivered after eight minutes when he spotted a gap after several phases from a tapped penalty inside the 22. Harry Byrne converted for the perfect start after two botched lineouts from Connacht had given the champions a platform.

But Connacht, having had to temporarily replace Cathal Forde and Sam Illo with Bundee Aki and Jack Aungier for HIAs, responded well and got back on level terms four minutes later when hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin scored after a good lineout take by his skipper Cian Prendergast. Sam Gilbert converted to tie the game.

Leinster — and perhaps Ireland — suffered a big blow when loosehead Jack Boyle was stretchered off with a leg injury at the end of the opening quarter.

Both defences got on top and that prompted the sides to go for the posts with penalty efforts with Harry Byrne and Gilbert twice swapping scores in a ten-minute spell.

Leinster pushed for the lead before the break but the home defence was good and one of the biggest cheers of the night came when No.8 Sean Jansen dispossessed Leinster hooker Gus McCarthy with a massive hit just as the champions were building a platform from a lineout inside the 22.

Connacht got on top after the restart and deservedly hit the front after 48 minutes with out-half Josh Ioane getting the ball away and Jansen bouncing off several tackles down the left before feeding winger Finn Treacy and he in turn put Harry West through to score with Gilbert’s conversion making it 20-13.

The crowd were on their feet again moments later when Forde got back to haul down RG Snyman after Gunne had broken from deep and Prendergast completed the defensive move by winning a relieving penalty.

The superb Jansen then forced a scrum when he denied Penny after a lineout but Connacht were pinged on their own put-in for going to ground and Leinster duly punished them, tapping and going with Snyman reaching to score. Byrne’s conversion tied the game at 20-20 after 57 minutes.

Leinster hit the front three minutes later when Tector smashed through the tackle of Tierney-Martin and Aungier in midfield and then held off Darragh Murray’s effort to score beside the posts with Byrne’s conversion pushing them seven clear.

Gilbert pulled back a penalty from 35 metres 14 minutes from the end but Leinster turned the screw and got the bonus point 11 minutes from time.

The ball grazed the foot of Connacht winger Treacy as he chased a James Lowe grubber before touching down, with Leinster winning a penalty from the subsequent scrum and a couple of phases later Byrne put Frawley through to score in the left corner. Byrne converted to make it 34-23 and there was no way back for Connacht after that.

Connacht: S Gilbert; S Jennings, H West (Aki 48), C Forde (B Aki 9-20), F Treacy; J Ioane (J Carty 64), C Blade (B Murphy 70); B Bohan (D Buckley 48), D Tierney-Martin (E de Buitlear 71), S Illo (J Aungier 9-20, 48); J Murphy, D Murray (J Joyce 64); C Prendergast (c), P Boyle (S O’Brien 64), S Jansen.

Leinster: C Frawley; J Kenny (R Moloey 77), G Ringrose, C Tector, J Lowe; H Byrne, F Gunne (L McGrath 56); J Boyle (J Cahir 20), G McCarthy (R Kelleher 48), N Smyth (A Sparrow 48); R G Snyman (B Deeny 71), J Ryan; A Soroka (D Mangan 45-55), W Connors (S Penny 49), C Doris (c).

Reps: R Kelleher, J Cahir, A Sparrow, B Deeny, D Mangan, S Penny, L McGrath, R Moloney.

Ref: E Cross (IRFU).

Pictured: Connacht’s Cathal Forde is about to be tackled by Leinster’s Luke McGrath during Saturday’s URC encounter at Dexcom Stadium. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.