Late, late controversy as depleted Dragons denied

THE depleted Dragons put in a fine performance in the face of adversity but are still awaiting their first win of the United Rugby Championship season after Leinster hit back from 7-5 down at halftime to triumph 24-10 at Rodney Parade.

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Despite the defeat there were plenty of positives as the injury-hit Welsh team, who were also missing a number of Wales internationals and had to draft in emergency signing Will Austin from Sale, threatened to pull off a mighty upset.

Alex Soroka touched down early on to put the visitors in front but they were briefly reduced to 14 men on the half hour when Diarmuid Mangan was sent to the sin bin for repeated infractions.

Matthew Screech made sure the Dragons capitalised on their man advantage as he burrowed over under the posts after persistent pressure, with Tinus de Beer adding the extras to give the home side the lead.

Leinster then spent a few minutes with just 13 players on the field as Scott Penny was yellow-carded but they hit back in the second half thanks to a double in the corner from Josh Kelly.

Angus O'Brien's penalty made sure Dragons were just a converted score away but RG Snyman’s breakaway score two minutes from time secured a bonus-point victory for Leinster.

Luke McGrath became the third Leinster player to be sent to the bin late on but it had no consequence on the result as Dragons crashed to a fourth defeat of the season.