Costello delight at dogged four-try bonus

Leinster .......... 21 Nottingham .... 29

NOTTINGHAM secured their first win in the Cup, running in four tries to see off Leinster A.

Ian Costello's men got off the mark in the tenth minute as scrum-half Darryl Veenendaal touched down with George Worth converting the South African’s effort.

Winger Ben Daly opened Leinster A’s account three minutes later as he got on the end of his own kick to touch down. Ross Byrne added the conversion to level at 7-7.

Nottingham edged in front again when prop Pat Cilliers barged over.

Centre Vili Hakalo scored Nottingham’s third try under the posts with Worth converting. Then Worth added a penalty to give Nottingham a 22-7 interval lead.

The home side were reduced to 14 men in the 42nd minute as Max Deegan was sin-binned for collapsing a Nottingham maul. Just a minute later,

TEAMS

LEINSTER A: Power 5 (Larmour 51, 6); Keenan 6, O’Brien 7, T Daly 7, B Daly 8; R Byrne 7 (Marsh 51, 7), McCarthy 6 (Rock 46, 7); Porter 5, Strauss 6 (B Byrne ht, 6), Loughman 6 (Heffernan 59, 6); Molony 7, Ryan 6 (Triggs 46, 6); Murphy 6 (Deegan 37, 6), Timmins 6, Conan 6 NOTTINGHAM: Millett 6; Stephenson 6, Thacker 6, Hakalo 7 (Evans 50, 6), Williams 6; Worth 7, Veenendaal 7 (McConnell 68, 6); Davies 7 (Morley 66, 6), Stevens 7 (Brownlie 60), Cilliers 7 (Heard 66, 6); Freeman 6 (Buckley 55, 6), Holmes 7; Langley 7 (Everard 72, 6), Coghlan 6, Morris 6 REFEREE: Gary Glennon ATTENDANCE: 950 Star man Vili Hakalo - Nottingham the visitors capitalised as hooker Jimmy Stevens scored their fourth try which Worth converted for a commanding 29-7 lead.

Leinster A needed a response and the excellent Barry Daly notched his second try on 49 minutes. Ross Byrne converted from the touchline.

Max Deegan redeemed his yellow as he got the hosts’' third try in the 64th minute. Replacement Cathal Marsh added the conversion to make it 29-21 but Nottingham held on for a bonus point victory.