Leinster forward Trevor Brennan admitted his side had reached the Celtic League semi-finals the hard way after overcoming a battling Newport team. The Irish side overcame a defiant challenge from their Welsh opponents at Donnnybrook to score a 34-22 victory in Dublin last night.
But they had seen Newport come back from 24-3 down after just 20 minutes to 24-17 at half-time and 24-22 five minutes into the second half to set up a gruelling final 35 minutes. Irish international Brennan, who was on the field in both halves as a replacement, said: “That was very tough.”
“We slacked off a little too much after going into a strong lead and lost some of our concentration. But this is cup final stuff, every game is a knockout and there's no second chances so we had to win,” Brennan said. “We knew it was always going to be a battle in the second half. And it was going to be crucial whoever scored first in the second half. Unfortunately they did that but we hung in there and got the win.”
Brennan is not concerned who Leinster face as they go in search of glory. “It's a very tough competition but we want some silverware. Hopefully we can do it, whoever we face in the semi-finals.”
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
