Leinster fall to defeat in Magners opener

Difficult return for Fitzgerald

Leinster got their Magners league season off to a disappointing start, falling to a 22-19 defeat to the Glasgow Warriors at Firhill on Friday night.

Duncan Weir proved the hero for the hosts, he replaced the misfiring Ruaridh Jackson after an hour and managed to kick 8 points, consisting of a penalty a conversion and a drop goal in that time.

Leinster will be most disappointed by the fact that they were in so much control in the first half. Asserting authority at every set piece. Dominic Ryan and Isaac Boss scored tries which had the visitors leading 16-6 at half time.

But the hosts got their act together after the break, and would have won by more had Jackson taken more than one penalty opportunity in the third quarter, but Weir arrived in the frame with his side trailing by seven and constructed the try for DTH Van Der Merwe before adding his own points.

The visitors got the scoreboard rolling thanks to the boot of Fergus McFadden. But Luke Fitzgerald failed his first real test as a fullback, dropping Jackson's high ball, and conceding a penalty which the fly-half converted to level the game.

Dominant at the set piece, it was only a matter of time before the visitors crossed the try line. It was Jamie Heaslip, peeling off the back of a lineout, who fed his back row partner, Ryan. The flanker showed tremendous pace to finish the score from 30 yards. 

 A comedy of errors stretched Leinster's lead further. After another scrum overwhelmed the Warriors, Isaac Boss caused havoc down the right wing before chipping a kick, which after landing on the foot of Max Evans, went sideways in the dead ball zone where Federico Aramburu's attempted clearance hit the prostrate Jackson and allowed Boss to get a vital fingertip to score a try on his debut.

McFadden missed both of his conversion attempts so the dominant side led by just 10 points at half time. It should have been enough, but the hosts provided more resistance in the second half.

The gap was erased on 68 minutes when the Warriors finally turned dominance into a Van Der Merwe try. Evans making up for his first half errors by manufacturing good go forward ball before Weir invited his winger to touch down in the corner.  then Weir really put the game into gear when he took over kicking duties,dissecting the posts from a difficult touchline conversion.

With the home side in the ascendancy and Jamie Heaslip substituted, last years runners up were hanging on. And when Weir hit what Paul O'Connel may have called a' manky drop goal' the writing was on the wall.

The extent of the Warriors dominance was such that, even when Isa Nacewa leveled the score with three minutes to go, the result was not in doubt and the hosts trundled right up the other end and won an unmissable penalty 25 metres out.

A late drop goal attempt from Nacewa would have leveled the game but it went right and wide of the posts, to give victory to the better side.

Leinster: L Fitzgerald; S Horgan, E O'Malley, F McFadden, N Morris; I Nacewa, I Boss; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, S Shawe; N Hines, E O'Donoghue; D Ryan, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.

 Replacements: J Fogarty, J McGrath, B Prescott, M Galarza, S Keogh, P O'Donohoe, I Madigan, E Sheridan. 

Glasgow Warriors: B Stortoni, DTH van der Merwe, M Evans, G Morrison, F Aramburu, R Jackson, H Pyrgos, J Welsh, F Thomson, M Low, T Ryder, R Gray, R Wilson, C Forrester, R Vernon

Substitutes: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Ryan Grant, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Duncan Weir, 22 Hefin O'Hare, 23 Peter Murchie