Heineken Cup: Leinster Outgun Glasgow

Felipe Contepomi celebrates scoring his try

Leinster, with fly-half and captain Felipe Contepomi to the fore, racked up their first win of Heineken Cup Pool Five on Sunday – a 33-20 success against Glasgow.

HEINEKEN CUP: POOL 5: Sunday, October 30

Glasgow 20 Leinster 33, Hughenden (Att: 1,907)

Scorers: Glasgow: Tries: Graeme Morrison 2, Andrew Henderson; Con: Colin Gregor; Pen: Dan Parks

Leinster: Tries: Kieran Lewis, Ciaran Potts, Felipe Contepomi, Gordon D’Arcy; Cons: Contepomi 2; Pens: Contepomi 3

Michael Cheika’s side got their European campaign back on the rails as Contepomi and young flanker Ciaran Potts, as well as Ireland internationals Kieran Lewis and Gordon D’Arcy, bagged tries in the 13-point victory.

Argentinean star Contepomi scored 13 points to guide Leinster, who were led onto the field by prop Reggie Corrigan on the occasion of his 50th Heineken Cup cap. Glasgow did grab three tries themselves and would have been closer but for a woeful afternoon with the boot for home captain Dan Parks.

Parks, who squandered 16 points’ worth of goal attempts, 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 Leinster in front. The hosts gave away a penalty for not releasing the ball quickly enough, and the Puma 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 Bernard Jackman, who hobbled off before the second half’s kick-off with a hip injury, 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 Lewis who had the easiest of runs to complete the move.

Glasgow, though, immediately hit back.

Scrum-half Graeme Beveridge made the initial 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 a line-out and the province’s pack drove forward to the Glasgow try line, allowing 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 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.

Then, with 13 minutes remaining, a Contepomi break set up D’Arcy for a neat chip kick, catch and touch down beyond the try line.

Glasgow had the final say, however, when Henderson broke through, and substitute Colin Gregor converted.

GLASGOW: Graydon Staniforth; Hefin O’Hare, Graeme Morrison, Andrew Henderson, Colin Shaw; Dan Parks (capt), Graeme Beveridge; Kevin Tkachuk, Scott Lawson, Lee Harrison, Tim Barker, Craig Hamilton, Paul Dearlove, John Barclay, John Beattie.

Replacements used: Stuart Corsar for Tkachuk, Gregor Hayter for Dearlove (both 50 mins), Dan Turner for Hamilton (54), Sam Pinder for Beveridge (59), Colin Gregor for Parks, Steve Sinwdall for Barclay (both 68). Not used: Fergus Thomson.

LEINSTER: Girvan Dempsey; Kieran Lewis, Gordon D’Arcy, Shane Horgan, Robert Kearney; Felipe Contepomi (capt), Brian O’Riordan; Reggie Corrigan, Bernard Jackman, Emmett Byrne, Bryce Williams, Malcolm O’Kelly, Ciaran Potts, Keith Gleeson, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements used: Brian Blaney for Jackman (half-time), Cameron Jowitt for Potts (47 mins), Ben Gissing for Williams (51), Brian O’Meara for O’Riordan (66), Ronan McCormack for Corrigan (74). Not used: Eoghan Hickey, Jonny Hepworth.

Referee: Chris White (England)