Lansdowne accept gifts

Lansdowne turned the corner at Stevenson Park on Saturday, where Dungannon's fragile defence once again left their frustrated fans gasping in disbelief.

Tries have been leaked at an alarming rate throughout the season, and Lansdowne were the latest beneficiaries, grabbing a bonus point in injury time against Willie Anderson's side.

Coach Michael Cosgrave was in no doubt that it was his defence which won this game. "We defended really well and made it very difficult for Dungannon, we frustrated them and we took our chances well," he said.

"And I think if we had had that extra bit of possession we would have wrapped it up much earlier, but in the second half we sorted that out, and in the end I thought we were just too strong for them."

A promising opening from Dungannon yielded only six points from David Humphreys, and by the time his opposite number Barry Everitt had equalised, Lansdowne were in full flow. Left wing Robbie Dolan went in almost unchallenged for the first of his two tries two minutes before the break.

Humphreys did kick another penalty, but when Dolan sprinted away for his second try on the hour, it was always gong to be Lansdowne's day, despite the loss of Shane Horgan with a knee injury. Jonathan Davis sprinted through for a brilliant individual try in the final minute of the game, but there was still time for two Lansdowne tries from Gus Hamilton and Karl Becker.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 2 mins: Humphreys penalty, 3-0; 15: Humphreys penalty, 6-0; 21: Everitt pen, 6-3; 35: Everitt penalty, 6-6; 38: Dolan try, Everit conversion, 6-13; 57: Humphreys penalty, 9-13; 59: Dolan try, Everitt conversion, 9-20; 68: Everitt penalty, 9-23; 78: Davis try, Humphreys conversion, 16-23; 82: Hamilton try, 16-28; 84: Becker try, Everit conversion, 16-35.

DUNGANNON: J Cunningham; J Davis, A Redpath, Alistair Clarke, M Bradley; D Humphreys, S Bell; J Fitzpatrick, Allen Clarke, G Leslie, P Johns, K Walker, A Boyd, A Hughes, T McWhirter. Replacements: A Hood for Alistair Clarke, C Simpson for Walker.

LANSDOWNE: G Darcy; R Niland, G Hamilton, S Horgan, R Dolan; B Everitt, D O'Mahoney; R Corrigan, O Ennis, A McKeen, G Fulcher, G Quinn, A Cullen, L Toland, C McEntee. Replacements: P McQuillan for McKeen, A O'Neill for Horgan, K Becker for O'Mahoney.

Referee: T Redmond (Leinster).