Irish clubs have now won ten out of ten Heineken Cup games this season following this evening's victories by Leinster and Munster.
Munster deserved their 16-12 win over Bridgend by virtue of two first half tries. Mike Mullins squeezed in at the left-hand corner to touch down in the ninth minute. Ten minutes later, Ronan O'Gara kicked a penalty right across the field. It fell right into a grateful John Kelly's hands, and the winger could hardly fail to score.
Bridgend squandered several opportunities to take the lead in the second period, but Ronan O'Gara's penalty kick from a metre within his own half finished off the Welsh side's hopes, extending Munster's lead by five points to 16-9. A late Craig Warlow penalty was not enough, and Munster maintained this season's remarkable unbeaten European record.
In Donnybrook, Leinster were forced to work hard for their 21-6 win against Newport this evening. Australian Adam Magro came in for the injured Brian O'Driscoll, but Leinster were otherwise at full strength. Former Wallaby outside-half Nathan Spooner made a nervous start, missing several straightforward penalty chances and Newport dominated early on. Leinster soon began to come into the game more, however, and the Newport defence was blitzed by an explosive run from Denis Hickie. The Irish three quarter fed the ball off to Shane Horgan, who ran in unopposed for a try. Spooner regained his kicking touch by scoring the conversion.
Newport flanker Peter Buxton was sin-binned two minutes before the break for deliberate obstruction at a Leinster scrum. Spooner punished the 14-man team by scoring two more penalties to give Leinster some breathing space. As Hickie was forced off with a shoulder injury, Shane Howarth reduced the deficit for Newport with just a converted try between the teams with 25 minutes to go.
Spooner sent over his third successful penalty late on to seal the game, while Peter McKenna finished the game in style for Leinster, scoring a try in the corner with the last move of the game.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
