Newport Gwent Dragons coped better in difficult conditions to end Leinster’s seven-match winning run at Rodney Parade with a 23-13 victory.

First-half tries from Ashton Hewitt and Jason Tovey proved the difference for the Welsh side, who were well worth their victory, with Leinster unable to turn second-half possession into points.

The Dragons flew out of the blocks and after a succession of darts from Sarel Pretorius, and some good charges by the forwards, Hewitt spotted a gap and ghosted through for the opening try. Tovey converted and the Dragons led 7-0 after just three minutes.

Leinster responded with a penalty from Fergus McFadden before Luke McGrath scored the visitors’ opening try. The scrum-half spotted some loose fringe defence and darted away off the back of a ruck to go under the posts from the 22. McFadden added the easy conversion to put Leinster 10-7 up.

However it was the home side who looked the more dangerous and twice they were denied tries after consultation with the TMO. First it was Hewitt, who collected Tovey’s perfect cross-kick, but a knock-on earlier in the move from Pretorius put paid to that try.

And soon after, it was Adam Warren who couldn’t quite dot down after another clever kick by Tovey.
Leinster were playing with 14 at this point, with flanker Dan Leavy sin-binned for kicking the ball out of Pretorius’ hands at a ruck.

It eventually proved decisive as the Dragons got their second try, Tovey finishing after another break from Hewitt. The winger scorched through on the right, and while he was stopped, good hands from props Boris Stankovich and Brok Harris allowed Rynard Landman to deliver the final pass out of the tackle for Tovey.

He converted before adding a drop goal right in the closing stages of the half to leave the home side 17-10 to the good at the break.

In the driving rain to start the second half, Leinster started well, with a McFadden penalty cutting the deficit to four points.

The possession belonged almost entirely to Leinster, and even in the difficult conditions, they looked the most likely winners.

However some magnificent defence from the Dragons kept the visitors at bay and eventually they were able to work their way up the field and won a penalty which was slotted by Tovey with 11 minutes remaining.

Leinster’s hopes were hanging by a thread, and their task got even trickier on 71 minutes when they lost McFadden to the sin-bin for a shoulder charge on Pretorius in a ruck.

And in the end Tovey added a late penalty to seal the win and deny the visitors even a losing bonus point.

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