Penalty try gives Greens a shot at last eight

A LATE penalty try helped Nottingham clinch a bonuspoint win over Leinster A to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.

The Green and Whites had a difficult start and found themselves trailing 14-0 after Tom Daly and Nick McCarthy went over for the Irish but two tries either side of half-time meant they will go into their last round clash against the Scarlets hoping to reach the last eight for the first time since 2013.

With Nottingham struggling to get going, it was Leinster who struck first as Andrew Porter burst through a gap in midfield to send Daly over with less than two minutes played.

The Irish continued to rattle their shell-shocked hosts as McCarthy scampered away to make it 14-0.

It took Nottingham 22 minutes to reach the opposition 22 but they made it count with Darryl Veenendaal eventually bustling his way through to put his side finally on the board.

But no sooner had the hosts reduced the arrears, slick and fast play proved their undoing with Max Deegan going over.

But Dominic Ryan was shown a yellow card on the half hour for a high tackle on Morgan Eames and Viliami Hakalo touched down for Nottingham to reduce the gap to 21-14 at half time.

Leinster began the second half well and came close to scoring a fourth try but James Stephenson intercepted and ran the length to level the scores.

A penalty from Cathal Marsh edged the Irish in front again before Nottingham were awarded that vital penalty try.