Dai's Boys felled by late Luke try

Feb 17 2008 by Our Correspondent, Wales On Sunday

Leinster 24-17 Cardiff Blues

LEINSTER put a huge dent in the Blues’ title hopes and achieved the double with a narrow 24-17 victory in Dublin.

Early tries by Maa’ma Molitika and Nick MacLeod seemed to have put Dai Young’s men in a good position to chase a valuable victory, but Leinster fought back in the second period.

Tries by Michael Berne and Luke Fitzgerald and 14 points from the boot of Felipe Contepomi clinched the win.

The Argentinian fly-half showed ultra-cool composure to boot the points to sink their title rivals at the Royal Dublin Showground.

It was a huge blow for the Blues, who lost valuable ground in the title although they picked up a losing bonus point.

The hosts lined up without talisman Brian O’Driscoll, but the statistics didn’t bode well for Young’s title contenders.

They were on the wrong end of the result in the 30-19 reverse fixture at the Arms Park in September and only the Llanelli Scarlets have recorded a win on Leinster soil this season.

But the Blues began brightly and got off to a dream start when Molitika powered over after three minutes.

The Tongan flanker broke through the home defence to finish off an excellent series of driving phases and possession.

Ben Blair extended the lead with the extras as the home crowd were silenced.

And the Blues were in dreamland eight minutes later when Nick MacLeod burst through to double the try count.

A brilliant break by centre Jamie Robinson supplied Sowden Taylor, who found the fly-half in space.

The 24-year-old spotted a gap and glided through it with consummate ease to score under the posts.

Blair added the extras to give the Blues an impressive 14-point lead.

Argentinian fly-half Felipe Contepomi got Leinster on the scoreboard on 21 minutes with a close-range penalty.

And it was then that the hosts upped the tempo and centre Michael Berne got them back into the match on 34 minutes when he touched down in the left corner from Shane Horgan’s pass.

Ireland star Horgan showed no signs of rustiness on his return from his rib injury and put his hand up for a recall for the Six Nations clash against Scotland next Saturday.

Contepomi converted to bring Leinster back to 14-10 before Blair reaffirmed the Blues seven-point lead on the stroke of half-time with a sweetly-struck penalty from 45 metres.

The Blues seemed to lack concentration at the beginning of the second period and were guilty of conceding several soft penalties.

Contepomi missed with his first effort of the half but made no mistake two minutes later with his second successful kick through the posts after Sowden-Taylor was caught offside.

Leinster piled on the pressure but they were halted by a fantastic thumping tackle by man-mountain Molitika on Chris Whitaker.

But the Tongan flanker was yellow-carded after 53 minutes for persistent infringing. Contepomi took full advantage and brought Leinster to within a point with his third penalty.

But the Blues defence, led by captain marvel Xavier Rush, proved a tough nut to crack during the period with 14 men and only conceded those three points before Molitika returned to the fray.

Then Contepomi put the home side into the lead with 13 minutes remaining with his fourth penalty.

Blair missed the chance to win the crucial match on 72 minutes as his penalty attempt fell just short.

But the Blues were sunk when Fitzgerald gathered his own chip and chase to score in injury time.