Conan slays the Dragons to
JACK CONAN shone as Leinster began the tough month of December with a bonus point win over Dragons at the RDS.
Peter Dooley, Ross Molony and Conan touched down in the first-half for Leinster before Joey Carbery secured the bonus point after half-time, while Pat Howard and Sarel Pretorius got the consolatory efforts for Dragons.
Leinster needed a win ahead of their crucial Champions Cup back-toback games against Northampton, and despite defeat to Scarlets last week, Conan said they have momentum.
“I think confidence is high, we were rocked a little bit after last week not getting the result we wanted over in Wales, but the lads dug deep this week,” said Conan.
“We trained really hard, but there was mistakes. The international lads come back in next week and it will be massive. They’ll bring a different edge and we’ll ramp it up again.”
Leinster held a 21-3 lead at half-time in a game where Dragons were looking to make it three wins in a row in the Pro12 for the first time since April 2015.
But they had lost 16 away games on the trot and they made a terrible start when Leinster scored two early tries.
Dooley touched down after a quick-tap penalty from Luke McGrath in the 12th minute, and Isa Nacewa tapped over the extras.
Molony was the next to get his name on the scoresheet after more incessant pressure from the Leinster forwards.
Nacewa’s conversion made it 14-0 to Leinster
Cuthbert, but Luke Marshall earned himself a spell in the bin after he went blatantly offside at a ruck
Instead of a Cardiff comeback, Ulster lock Pete Browne charged downfield, before the ball was sent wide to Henry, who barged over to score.
The returning Robinson set up late scores for Halaholo and Cuthbert.
But replacement Ludik struck late to seal a 35-22 victory.
Blues head coach Wilson said: “Plain and simple, that performance was not acceptable from us at home.
“We conceded points from our loose play and heaped pressure on ourselves.”