Leinster 18 Cardiff Blues 22Any chance of Leinster salvaging a once-promising year seemed to completely evaporate last night. Despite patches of decent play they struggled to compete with their Welsh visitors. The losing streak now stands at six.
Although not overly dirty, the game will be remembered for the punch Rob Appleyard landed on the chin of Aidan McCullen in the final stages. It ended the Leinster flanker's evening and left referee Andrew Ireland with little choice but to brandish a red card.
Leinster drew first blood when Felipe Contepomi slotted a penalty from the right of the posts butAppleyard sauntered over for the opening try after 17 minutes after scrumhalf Ryan Powell broke around the side of a maul before offloading to Jim Brownrigg, who cleverly passed inside to Nick Robinson. The outhalf sent Appleyard over.
Three minutes before the interval Cardiff again exploited poor defending as Robinson cantered over out wide.
With the game slipping away Leinster needed to reply. Christian Warner supplied the pass for James Norton to cross unopposed. Contepomi converted to leave Cardiff with just a two-point cushion at the break.
With the second half in its infancy, Craig Quinnell was sent to the bin after overuse of the boot at ruck-time. Leinster punished them almost immediately, Brendan Burke evading three would-be tacklers before claiming a fine individual try, but injuring himself in the process.
An O'Meara penalty gave Leinster a six-point cushion, which was almost immediately countered by a Robinson penalty.
With 12 minutes left Leinster were again exploited out wide, Pieter Muller skipping over on the left side. Robinson added a great conversion.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 2 mins: Contepomi pen, 0-3; 18: R Appleyard try, 5-3; N Robinson con, 7-3; 37: N Robinson try, 12-3; 42: J Norton try, 12-8; P Contepomi con, 12-10; 46: B Burke try, 12-15; 63: B O'Meara pen, 12-18; 65: Robinson pen, 15-18; 68: P Muller try, 20-18; Robinson con, 22-18.
LEINSTER: J Norton; J McWeeney, C Warner, F Contepomi, B Burke; M Leek, B O'Meara; J Lyne, D Blaney, S Brophy, C Potts, B Gissing, A McCullen, N Ronan, D Dillon. Replacements: G Brown for Burke (48 mins), J Moran for Lyne (57 mins), J Downey for Contepomi (63-66 mins), A Kearney for Potts, B O'Riordan for O'Meara (both 66 mins), S Crawford for McCullen (75 mins).
CARDIFF: D Van Vuuren; J Vaughton, M Allen, P Muller, C Morgan; N Robinson, R Powell; K Fourie, A Lewis, D Crompton, C Quinnell, J Brownrigg, M Cockbain, R Sowden-Taylor, D Baugh. Replacements: R Appleyard for Cockbain (17-25 mins), N Walne for J Vaughton (50 mins), Appleyard for Baugh (69 mins), R Thomas for Crompton (80 mins).
Referee: A Ireland (SRU).
