United Rugby Championship: Leinster hold on to beat dogged Dragons 7-6

Leinster rose to third in the United Rugby Championship with a narrow victory over dogged Dragons in Newport.

Leinster led 7-0 at half-time thanks to a Max Deegan try and Ross Byrne conversion, but could not capitalise further on two Dragons yellow cards.

Dragons rallied with two Sam Davies penalties as they rattled the Irish province into producing numerous uncharacteristic errors.

The home side could not quite seal what would have been a famous victory.

The Dragons defence was strong with Wales forwards Ross Moriarty, Aaron Wainwright and Will Rowlands particularly impressive.

Despite their endeavours, it was a second successive Dragons defeat this season with the Gwent region having lost their past 12 games against Leinster, who opened their campaign with a 31-3 victory against Bulls.

Dragons hooker Elliot Dee returned from a calf problem, but the region were still without Wales prop Leon Brown, who picked up an injury in the summer while on international duty.

Leinster flanker Josh van der Flier led his side out as he notched up his 100th appearance for them, while wing Rob Russell made his debut.

Centre Conor O'Brien returned for his first appearance since February 2020., while Ireland lock James Ryan captained Leinster for the first time with Johnny Sexton missing.

Leinster dominated early on with Dragons scrum-half Lewis Jones yellow-carded for a professional foul. The visitors took advantage with number eight Max Deegan scoring on his first start in more than a year.

Dragons were reduced to 13 men when full-back Josh Lewis was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on but did not concede any more points with their numerical disadvantage.

Flanker Ollie Griffiths suffered a head knock and was replaced by Taine Basham as Leinster led 7-0 at half-time.

Leinster brought on Ireland flanker Dan Leavy following another enforced lay-off, before Sam Davies slotted over a penalty after the visitors were caught offside.

Davies' half-back partner Rhodri Williams added attacking spark and laid the platform for a second successful penalty to reduce the deficit to one point.

Leinster thought they had sealed victory in the 77th minute when replacement scrum-half Nick McCarthy went over the Dragons line.

But following numerous television replays, it was judged that wing Russell had knocked the ball on in the build-up after an aerial challenge with Lewis.

A frantic finale followed, but Dragons could not break out of their own half to cause a major upset.

Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan: "We are more disappointed [than proud] now, we are moving out of the phase where trying to keep the score down against Leinster is seen as a positive.

"We are frustrated that we didn't play very well in the first half and that was compounded by having people in the bin.

"When we did solve some of our platform problems we looked quite dangerous and the frustration was that we probably could have gone on to win the game."

Leinster director of rugby Leo Cullen: "I thought the lads started okay and Dragons had two guys in the bin. In that period we didn't capitalise and were a little bit loose with possession.

"We knew the conditions would be difficult but we definitely could have been better and there were a lot of turnovers over the course of the game. It was great to be back here at Rodney Parade and it turned into a very tight contest.

"We squandered some opportunities earlier in the game and didn't build scoreboard pressure. We're pleased to come away with a win after the situation we found ourselves in."

Dragons: Josh Lewis; Jonah Holmes, Jack Dixon, Aneurin Owen, Jordan Olowofela; Sam Davies, Lewis Jones; Aki Seiuli, Elliot Dee, Mesake Doge, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands, Ross Moriarty (c), Ollie Griffiths, Aaron Wainwright

Replacements: Taylor Davies, Greg Bateman, Chris Coleman, Joe Maksymiw, Taine Basham, Rhodri Williams, Adam Warren, Ioan Davies.

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Rob Russell, Garry Ringrose, Conor O'Brien, Rory O'Loughlin; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Michael Ala'alatoa, Ross Molony, James Ryan (c), Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier, Max Deegan

Replacements: James Tracy, Ed Byrne, Cian Healy, Ryan Baird, Dan Leavy, Nick McCarthy, Ciarán Frawley, Scott Penny

Referee: AJ Jacobs (SARU)

Assistants: Aled Evans & Jason Bessant (WRU)

TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)

• SCRUM V IS BACK: Bigger and better than ever

• FEAST OF FOOTBALL: Join Elis to chew over the week's football