Leinster break Connacht hearts with late penalty in Dublin
Jordie Barrett picked up the Man of the Match but it was Ross Byrne who controlled the game
Ross Byrne's late penalty put an eight-point distance between Leinster and Connacht in front of 33,963 patrons on what turned a bitterly cold Aviva Stadium night.
Part redemption too for an out-half who has been perceived, more than just a little unfairly, as 'yesterday's man' as the advent of Sam Prendergast preoccupies both Leinster and Ireland fans.
Byrne's four-from-four with the tee provided 10 points while his in-play leadership and decision-making kept Leinster on the front foot for most of the night.
READ MORE: Leinster v Connacht player ratings: who did well - and who didn't - against their opposite number?
For their part, the western side struggled to gain purchase and were 14 points down before the half-hour.
Poor defending allowed Andrew Osborne coming into the line in midfield to score; poor judgement saw Shane Jennings yellow carded to leave his side short; and poor alignment saw Charlie Tector squeeze between Bundee Aki and Cathal Forde to cross for a second try.
Fourteen points down and without play-making out-half Josh Ioane who didn't return from his head clash on the half-hour Connacht were, nonetheless, a better proposition in the second-half.
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Byrne, however, had added to their degree of difficulty by convincing acting skipper Luke McGrath to allow him take a simple three points on offer just after the break.
Connacht's fightback from 17-0 began with Oisin Dowling dotting down after significant pressure on the Leinster line, a 52nd minute try that was not converted.
A Lee Barron yellow card had Leinster down to 14 men when an attacking move spread wide saw Jennings with no one to mark him and he ran around to score under the post.
Following the conversion the home side were now five points ahead, 17-12, with 20 minutes to play.
Connacht didn't have enough in their locker despite Leinster offering up a second yellow card, Jimmy O'Brien pinged with seven minutes left to play.
Byrne's last kick took the game to the cusp of the final whistle. Connacht failed to get clean possession from the kick-off and from the resulting scrum, Leinster kicked the ball out of play.
LEINSTER: Jimmy O’Brien; Aitzol Arenzana-King (Harry Byrne, 62), Charlie Tector, Jordie Barrett, Andrew Osborne; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath (Jamison Gibson-Park, 51); Jack Boyle (Michael Milne, 51), Gus McCarthy (Lee Barron, 51), Rabah Slimani (Cian Healy, 51); Diarmuid Mangan (Brian Deeny, 75), RG Snyman; Alex Soroka, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (capt) (Max Deegan, 22) (Ryan Baird, 33 HIA).
Yellow cards: Barron, 52; O’Brien, 76.
CONNACHT: Piers O’Conor; Mack Hansen, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Shane Jennings; Josh Ioane (Santiago Cordero, 31 HIA), Ben Murphy (Caolin Blade, 53); Denis Buckley (Jordan Duggan, 64), Dave Heffernan (Dylan Tierney-Martin, 58), Finlay Bealham (Jack Aungier, 53); Josh Murphy (Oisín Dowling, 53), Darragh Murray; Cian Prendergast (capt), Shamus Hurley-Langton (Conor Oliver., 64), Paul Boyle (Sean Jansen, 53).
Yellow card: Jennings, 26.
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