Lions End Six-Match Losing Run

Leinster 35 - 12 The Borders Donnybrook   Att: 2,384 Referee: Neil Ballard Friday 26th March 2004, 19:30

Leinster Lions finally ended their six-match losing run as they best the Borders at Donnybrook.

Leinster Lions finally ended their six-match losing run as they best the Borders at Donnybrook. The Irish side, Celtic champions just two seasons ago, have had a year of disappointment, and find themselves in the bottom third of the table, but they had too much in the locker for the battling basement boys from north of the border. Brian O'Meara kicked 15 points, converting all four of Leinster's tries including a brace over seven minutes for replacement James Norton at the death, as Borders were kept scoreless after the break. In a lively opening, Leinster secured the lion's share of possession off their well-functioning lineout and from a 10th-minute turnover of Doddie Weir, home centre Gary Brown almost stole in at the right corner flag. But from a Weir break straight from the visitors' 10-metre line five minutes later, Gary Armstrong managed to screw the ball wide for Dunlea to dive over unchallenged at the left corner. Clark Laidlaw was wide with the extras and Leinster hit back almost immediately, nailing their first points on 18 minutes from a 28-metre O'Meara penalty. The half-back added the extras to Brendan Burke's second try in three games, after lock Ben Gissing straightened the line for the Barnhall back to touch down on 23 minutes. Leinster's superiority was confirmed 11 minutes before the break with Ronan's second ever try for his province as the flanker evaded the challenge of full-back Gareth Morton to score out wide. Symptomatic of the home side's season however, they shipped a try to Borders two minutes later when centre Stuart ghosted through the posts. Leinster saw in the break 20-12 in front thanks to O'Meara's fourth success, and he regained his poise on 51 minutes following his first miss of the night, with a 35-metre effort. Two yellow cards for Laidlaw and Stuart either side of the hour mark ended the Galashiels' side's challenge and Norton sprinted over onto flat passes from Matt Leek and Brown to complete the rout.

Leinster V The Borders   P D C T Pos Player Player Pos T C D P   2 FB James Norton 15 Gareth Morton FB 1 W John McWeeney 14 Cameron Murray W C Gary Brown 13 Jono Stuart C 1 C Christian Warner 12 Kevin Utterson C 1 W Brendan Burke 11 Craig Moir W FH Felipe Contepomi 10 Clark Laidlaw FH 3 3 SH Brian O'Meara 9 Gary Armstrong SH P John Lyne 1 Craig Dunlea P 1 H David Blaney 2 Steve Scott H P Peter Coyle 3 Geoff Cross P L Ciaran Potts 4 Doddie Weir L L Ben Gissing 5 Colin Stewart L FL Aidan McCullen 6 Scott Macleod FL 1 FL Niall Ronan 7 Andy Rennick FL 8 Des Dillon 8 Semo Sititi 8 Replacements r Jason Moran 16 ;Kelvin Todd r r Brian Blaney 17 Paul Thomson r r Aidan Kearney 18 Alastair Davidson r r Simon Crawford 19 John Dalziel r r Brian O'Riordan 20 Iain Fairley r r Matt Leek 21 Stephen Cranston r r James Downey 22 Tony Walker - Penalty Tries 0 0

All Pictures: ©  http://www.inpho.ie/, Huw Evans Agency,  Graham Stuart