Leinster 12 Montferrand 9
Leinster put one foot in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with a second win in a week over French outfit Montferrand at Donnybrook tonight.
Leinster scrum-half Brian O'Meara out-scored kicking rival Gerald Merceron by four penalties to three to hand the province a fourth consecutive win in the pool and complete back-to-back victories over their closest rivals.
With Leinster incensed following David Bory's knees-first sliding tackle on Gordon D'Arcy after he had scored a try during last week's game and Montferrand still smarting from having been beaten 23-20 by the Irishmen on home turf, this was set up for a fiery encounter.
The game began at a ferocious pace, every tackle seeming to carry with it an extra edge.
Montferrand were quickly into their stride with Merceron's penalty kick from in front of the posts inside the first minute.
Leinster replied with O'Meara's fourth minute penalty.
Montferrand full-back Sebastien Viars went wide with an attempted drop goal on the quarter-hour but there was no further score until Merceron struck again with a 23rd minute penalty.
Ireland wing Denis Hickie found a rare gap in the Montferrand defence on the half hour when he broke free on the halfway line.
He moved the ball out to Shane Horgan, who advanced to within 10 metres of the French line and passed inside only for Keith Gleeson to knock on.
O'Meara got Leinster back on level terms with a penalty six minutes before the break to take the score to 6-6 but, as first half injury time stretched into a fifth minute, Merceron sent another penalty over to give the French side the half-time lead at 9-6.
Leinster succeeded in opening the game out at the restart and had Montferrand stretched to the limit when Brian O'Driscoll and then Victor Costello advanced up field on the right before play switched to the left and centre David Quinlan was held up on the try line.
Leinster maintained the pressure and it took some more gritty defending by the French to prevent a home try.
And even when Costello looked to be in at the corner in the 50th minute, his rival back row Alex Audebert somehow managed to drag him back from the line.
The French had weathered the storm and there was further joy for their travelling fans when O'Meara missed a 56th minute penalty, the first stray place kick of the night.
The Leinster scrum-half made no mistake five minutes later from an almost identical position to the right of the posts and then again in the 69th minute as the home side finally and deservedly took the lead at 12-9.
Montferrand never threatened again as Leinster held firm and, though O'Meara missed an injury time penalty from the left touchline, Leinster were home and dry.