Leinster fall flat

Leinster suffered an 18-9 Magners League loss to the Newport Gwent Dragons just a week before the Heineken Cup Final in Edinburgh.

The result was of a crumb of consolation for the Dragons, whose bid for automatic qualification to Europe's biggest tournament ended when the Scarlets beat Cardiff Blues midweek.

In a poor match, they also denied the Irish region - who played without three of their four British and Irish Lions - a losing bonus point.

Leinster had the most to gain even though they were not going to catch newly-crowned league champions Munster.

Victory would secure them second place in the final table but there was also the small matter of a run-out for some squad players ahead of next weekend's European final against Leicester.

The match also marked the return of Lions-selected wing Rob Kearney, who had been out for five weeks with the mumps.

As for the Dragons, who signed former Wasps prop Ali McKenzie last week, it was about finishing off the regular season and getting ready for a Heineken Cup qualifying play-off in Italy on May 29.

Backs to the wall

Leinster took the lead courtesy of a Fergus McFadden penalty but they had their backs to the wall for 20 minutes of the opening half as flanker Sean O'Brien became the first player sent to the sin-bin for taking a player out illegally at a ruck.

McFadden then joined him after he pulled home outside-half Jason Tovey back from a certain try by grabbing his shirt.

Tovey, who is missing a dream tour of North America with Wales along with two of his Dragons colleagues because of the European Cup qualifier, converted the resulting penalty.

The Dragons took advantage of McFadden's absence when full-back Martyn Thomas was put over in the corner by centre Phil Dollman.

Within seconds of returning to the fray, McFadden reduced the arrears to 12-6 with a penalty from 37 metres.

The play was uninspiring, however, and it continued after the break when both teams were let down by too many handling errors.

Play was centred mostly between the 22 metre lines, with little imagination from either team to break the monotony.

Solid

McFadden clawed three more points back with a 42-metre penalty just after the hour to make it 12-9 before both coaches made their personnel changes, including the replacement of Kearney who had a solid performance.

Replacement James Arlidge, on for the injured Tovey, put over a mid-range penalty with three minutes to go and gave the Dragons a six-point cushion.

Leinster were almost instantly awarded kickable penalties but their decision to opt for tries to win the game backfired.

And, when the visitors infringed again 30 metres from their own posts, Arlidge made them pay to seal the game for the Welsh side.

Leinster will have star names such as Brian O'Driscoll back next Saturday at Murrayfield but, for now, they will have to wait and see if Edinburgh win at Cardiff Blues on Sunday to find out where they finish in the domestic league.