JOSH ABOUT

Van der Flier the star as Blues edge out hosts

Dragons

JOHN FALLON

JOSH VAN DER FLIER crowned his 100th appearance for Leinster with another man of the match performance as they just about did enough to secure victory at Rodney Parade.

But it was an error-ridden display from the champions and they were fortunate to maintain their winning start to the United Rugby Championship.

Dragons just didn’t have the power to punish the 15 handling errors from Leinster, nor take advantage of the trouble the holders endured in the lineout.

Leo Cullen’s men failed to make the most of Dragons having two players binned in the opening half and the game remained scoreless even when it was 13 against 15 for four minutes.

Van der Flier, also man of the match in the opening round win over the

Bulls, was one of the few Leinster players to make an impact.

“It was very tough going,

Dragons were really good,” said van der Flier

(inset). “Conditions were tough to play in and they made it really hard for us and hopefully we made it hard for them.

“We will take a huge amount from getting a win like that. We came over to get a win and we managed that. It wasn’t pretty by any means but a lot of hard work and we managed to get a win against a very good Dragons team. We are pleased with that.”

The lethargy which marred Leinster’s display was not apparent early on and they pounded the home line from the outset.

The pressure led to a yellow card for Dragons scrum-half Lewis Jones for not releasing after 13 minutes.

And the champions made them pay within a minute with Max Deegan crowning his first start after his injury nightmare with a pushover try.

Ross Byrne converted to make it 7-0 but, remarkably, Leinster did score again after that – not even when fullback Josh Lewis joined Jones in the bin after 19 minutes for a deliberate knock-on.

Dragons got off the mark after 63 minutes when Sam Davies landed a penalty from 30 metres.

And a tight finish was set up three minutes later when Davies booted another from the left to cut the gap to the minimum.

Dragons scorers: Pens: S Davies (2). Leinster: Try: M Deegan; Con: R

Byrne.

FORWARD MARCH Leinster’s Dan Sheehan goes on the charge at Rodney Parade yesterday