United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster made it 10 wins from 10 in all competitions, but had to work hard for a 20-12 victory over Connacht at the Aviva Stadium.
Tries from Andrew Osborne and Charlie Tector gave a Leinster side featuring a sprinkling of Academy players, a 14-0 half-time lead, although they should have made more of a yellow card for Connacht centre Shane Jennings.
After watching Ross Byrne kick a penalty, Connacht capitalised on Lee Barron’s sin-binning to make it a five-point game, with Oisin Dowling and Jennings both crossing.
Mack Hansen was growing in influence for the westerners, yet a scrappy final 20 minutes ended with Leinster fly-half Byrne clinching the result with a 79th-minute penalty.
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With 13 changes from last week, Leo Cullen’s men applied early pressure. Connacht dug in defensively with Bundee Aki and Jennings coming up with crucial plays.
Nineteen minutes in, Byrne used a zippy move off what was a mostly unreliable Leinster lineout to send Osborne racing over. Byrne converted.
Jennings then saw yellow for a late tackle on Luke McGrath and Connacht’s midfield was opened up again. Barrett neatly slipped Tector through to score, with Byrne converting.
Connacht briefly gained momentum through the running of Paul Boyle and Josh Ioane, until the latter had to come off injured.
Darragh Murray’s ability to steal Leinster’s lineout ball was a big positive for the visitors, along with Shamus Hurley-Langton’s turnover wins.
Playing into the wind on the restart, Byrne pushed the margin out to 17 points but Connacht responded well.
Leinster’s repeated penalties landed replacement Barron in the sin bin in the 51st minute, and the resulting tap penalty led to Dowling burrowing over.
Hurley-Langton and Hansen provided further spark, and with Leinster increasingly narrow in defence, Jennings was sent in behind the posts. Forde’s conversion closed the gap to 17-12.
Connacht captain Cian Prendergast did brilliantly to hold up Barron, denying him a certain try on the 70-minute mark.
Jimmy O’Brien was then binned for taking Hansen out in the air to give the visitors hope, but it was Byrne who had the final say for the table toppers.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was pleased his side came through a tight contest, especially after being forced to field some less experienced player, such as try scorer Tector.
Cullen told RTÉ Sport: “Connacht were fully loaded. We knew they would be coming here, throwing everything at the game. I thought it was an unbelievable contest. A bit more nervy than we would have liked in the second half. We got ourselves into a difficult situation when the game went 17-12, which is credit to Connacht, but I thought we scrambled really well.”
The game also marked the return to the Leinster line-up of Alex Sokora, who was making his first appearance of the season for the province after featuring for Emerging Ireland on their recent tour to South Africa.
“I’m absolutely exhausted. I think that’s my first game since April 2023, so it’s been a while. You can do all the training you want but nothing can replicate the match.
“The match fitness, I was blowing there after 40. Tough challenge, but just delighted to be back in blue and delighted to get the win against a tough Connacht team,” he told Leinster Rugby TV afterwards.
