Pro12: Newport Gwent Dragons claimed an upset win over Leinster at the RDS
Last Updated: 15/02/15 6:44pm
Tom Prydie kicked the winning points as Newport Gwent Dragons stunned Leinster in the Guinness Pro12, handing the Irish province their first defeat at the RDS since March 2013.
Prydie scored 11 points on the day and the Dragons triumphed 16-14 to secure just their second win on Irish soil in 11 years.
The Welsh region had a pair of forwards sin-binned in the first half but Leinster were unable to punish them severely and the defending champions have dropped to fifth in the table.
The third-from-bottom Dragons took a surprise 10th-minute lead when centre Pat Leach broke through the defence to score a converted try after excellent work from Rhys Thomas and Dorian Jones.
Already shorn of his Six Nations players, Leinster boss Matt O'Connor was forced into further changes when Noel Reid and Tom Denton went off injured, and a third change saw Aaron Dundon come on for Richardt Strauss.
Leinster did manage to open their account with Jimmy Gopperth penalties in the 16th and 30th minutes but Dragons defended well despite the loss of Thomas and Nick Crosswell to the bin.
And Prydie split the posts with a penalty just before the break to make it 10-6 to the visitors at half-time.
Leinster almost grabbed the lead 10 minutes into the second period when Reid’s replacement Luke Fitzgerald appeared to have scored after a magnificent Ben Te’o run but it was ruled he had knocked on when reaching for the line and the visitors were awarded a five-metre scrum.
Gopperth did then knock over his third penalty of the day but it was cancelled out by another good kick from Prydie.
However, Leinster finally claimed the lead with just under 15 minutes left to play. Teo’o again did brilliantly, bursting through the Dragons defence before offloading to replacement scrum half John Cooney, whose kick towards the right corner was touched down by full-back Dave Kearney.
But, crucially, Gopperth missed the tricky touchline conversion and a determined Dragons side quickly reclaimed the lead, Prydie kicking a close range penalty.
There were still 11 minutes left to play but the visitors held on to their two point lead to win in Ireland for the first time since prevailing by the same score in Ulster back in September 2008.
