Glasgow’s disputed cards let Leinster turn game around

Leinster 23 Glasgow Warriors 18

Leinster trailed for most of this clash between the Pro12 champions of the past two seasons but they came good when it mattered most at the RDS last night.

They were assisted in their task by champions Glasgow suffering two yellow cards, the most contentious of which turned the game in favour of Leo Cullen’s men.

Glasgow were nursing a five points lead with 15 minutes remaining when their big winger Taqele Naiyaravoro was judged to have deliberately knocked the ball dead with his hand as he chased it to his own line with Fergus McFadden.

The decision could have gone either way but referee Ian Davies dished out a yellow card and awarded a penalty try which tied the sides before McFadden tapped over the conversion to lead for the first time.

Dying moments

McFadden closed out the win in the dying moments with his third penalty of the night as Leinster made it three wins from five.

But it was Glasgow who did most of the running early on and deservedly led 13-6 at the break with early pressure yielding a try from tighthead Zander Fagerson after 14 minutes when the Scottish under-20 bulldozed over.

Duncan Weir added the conversion but Leinster hit back almost immediately. Weir extended Glasgow's lead but their hopes suffered a blow when hooker Pat MacArthur was binned for a reckless tackle on his counterpart Aaron Dundon.

McFadden was unable to land the penalty but they made the most of their extra man three minutes after the restart with a penalty.

Attacks

Glasgow dealt initially with the attacks but scrum-half Luke McGrath spotted a gap and sniped over. McFadden added the conversion to tie the game.

The Glasgow response was good with Naiyaravoro using all his huge frame to burst through three tackles to score.

Weir missed the conversion before Leinster, with Garry Ringrose superb on the right wing and Ben Te'o, hit back and the binning of Naiyaravoro was the break they were looking for. They never looked back after that.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; G Ringrose, B Te'o, N Reid, F McFadden; C Marsh, L McGrath; M Bent, A Dundon, M Moore; R Molony, M McCarthy; R Ruddock, J van der Flier, J Conan.

Replacements: J Tracy for Dundon (40+3mins); T Furlong for Moore (50mins); P Dooley for Bent (50mins); I Boss for McGrath (58mins); C Kelleher for Nacewa (75mins).

GLASGOW WARRIORS: S Lamont; T Naiyaravoro, R Vernon, F Lyle, R Hughes; D Weir, M Blair; A Allan, P MacArthur, Z Fagerson; T Swinson, S Cummings; R Harley, S Favaro, R Wilson.

Replacements: A Ashe for Swinson (28mins); H Blake for Favaro (50mins); K Bryce for McArthur (58mins); J Yanuyanutawa for Allan (68mins); G Hart for Blair (69mins); G Perterson for Cummings (71mins).

Referee: Ian Davies (WRU).