Newport 21 Leinster 26
The lights literally went out on Newport's Heineken Cup campaign at Rodney Parade tonight as Leinster preserved their unbeaten pool six record in dramatic fashion.
Fly-half Nathan Spooner's two late penalty strikes gave Leinster a fourth successive victory and put them in sight of the quarter finals.
But there were farcical second half scenes when a partial floodlight failure caused the game to be held up for 18 minutes.
A 10,000-plus crowd waited while top English referee Chris White consulted with his touch judges, players and officials from both teams.
The sides briefly returned to their dressing rooms before play restarted without the lights that had gone off above the main stand being back on.
The disruption clearly affected Newport far more than Leinster, and Spooner came up trumps with two mammoth kicks during the closing stages after his opposite number Shane Howarth missed the target twice from much closer distance.
Leinster had looked down and out at half-time, trailing 18-10 as Newport took control of a pulsating match.
Centre Andy Marinos and winger Ben Breeze both scored tries during a marvellous 13-minute spell when Newport amassed 15 unanswered points after trailing 10-3.
But Leinster showed exactly why many pundits believe they can go all the way in this season's tournament, digging deep to stay in contention after full-back Peter McKenna claimed a remarkable solo touchdown.
Newport's Matt Pini was within sight of the Leinster line on 58 minutes, but McKenna somehow stole the ball off him and sprinted 90 metres unopposed to inflict a hammer blow on Newport.
Howarth's second penalty though, he had earlier landed a drop goal, edged Newport 21-20 ahead, but then darkness descended.
Newport unluckily saw centre John Pritchard's try ruled out when referee White whistled for a Leinster knock on, and when the teams returned following their unexpected breather, it was Leinster who kept their composure.
Howarth critically failed to find his goalkicking range, and Spooner showed him exactly how it should be done, stepping up on 74 minutes and then two minutes into stoppage time.
Newport had more than enough chances to have won the game comfortably, yet they are now four points behind Leinster with little hope of reaching the last eight.
Leinster, in contrast, should secure a quarter final place by winning one of their remaining two fixtures when the competition resumes next January.
They were without Irish internationals Girvan Dempsey and Denis Hickie through injury, but with Spooner kicking 16 points and McKenna and the outstanding flanker Eric Miller claiming tries, it proved enough.
Newport, to their credit, played most of the rugby - lock Mike Boyle and scrum half Junior Tonu'u were hugely impressive - but the Black and Amber's lost momentum once Voyle was surprisingly substituted midway through the second period.
Newport could still march on, but they must win remaining games against Toulouse and Newcastle, boost their try-count considerably and still probably hope that other results work in their favour.
Tonight was a glorious chance for Newport to claim a notable victory, but together with the Rodney Parade floodlights, they blew it spectacularly.
PA