Connacht head coach Pat Lam believes a controversial try awarded to Leinster was the turning point in the sides’ Pro12 clash at the RDS on New Year’s Day.
Referee George Clancy awarded the home side a try after 73 minutes as the Blues fought their way to a 13-0 victory, their sixth on the bounce in the league.
This was after he referred the incident to Television Match Official Marshall Kilgore and despite the fact that television replays appeared to show no clear grounding of the ball by Leinster’s Josh van der Flier.
“There was a big effort in the first half, defensively particularly and we kept them to three points at half-time,” said Lam.
“There were some big calls made against it and we have to live with those.
“They got over our line and it was a big call on the try. Once they went ten points up it was a big ask.”
Connacht played against the storm-force breeze in Ballsbridge and would have been happy to trail by just 3-0 at the break, the score from a Jonathan Sexton penalty.
The controversial try award, converted by Sexton, put Leinster well in control and they sealed the win when replacement Ian Madigan added a late penalty.
It was announced earlier in the week that Madigan will move to Bordeaux at the end of the season and he received a huge roar from the relatively-small RDS crowd when he came on.
Leinster are as good as out of the European Challenge Cup, but the are up to second in the Pro12, leapfrogging Connacht with this win.
They are just one point behind leaders Scarlets, who lost their derby to Cardiff Blues 29-27 on Friday.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen wasn’t getting carried away, though he was happy with what he saw.
“There were some good things out there,” he said.
“We were a bit unlucky with a few things in the first half and thought we might have got a bit more reward.
“Being only 3-0 at half-time with the wind behind us meant it was a bit of a mountain to climb.
“The conditions out there made it very, very hard for both teams out there so we’re delighted with the win.
“The guys are working hard. We felt we just weren’t getting the rewards. We’ll reassess – it was another good result after a few poor results.”
Ulster take on Munster at Ravenhill on Saturday in the final Pro12 Irish derby of the festive season.
