Leinster 9-12 London Irish
London Irish, Ulster and Gloucester off to a flying start
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EXCLUSIVE by Tom Powell. |  |
Friday, 09, Oct 2009 09:59
By Tom Powell.
Reigning Heineken Cup champions Leinster suffered an opening day 12-9 defeat to London Irish after a last-minute Ryan Lamb penalty.
Leinster's Jonathan Sexton and Irish's Peter Hewat traded two penalties a piece in a ferocious opening period that saw both Jamie Heaslip and David Plaice sent to the sin bin.
Neither defence looked like conceding a try in the second half but substitute Lamb nudged the visitors ahead with a 66th minute penalty.
Sexton looked to have rescued a draw for Leinster with a penalty five minutes from time but Lamb steadied his nerves to land an 80th minute penalty and provide the competition with an early shock.
Elsewhere a late Nicky Robinson penalty helped Gloucester avoid suffering an upset against Newport-Gwent Dragons as they picked up a 19-17 win.
A converted try in the 23rd minute from hooker Akapusi Qera gave Gloucester the lead before two converted tries in five minutes from James Arlidge and Joe Bearman gave the Dragons a 14-7 half-time advantage.
Three penalties from Robinson put Gloucester 16-14 ahead before the match see-sawed back in the Dragons favour with a James Arlidge penalty.
The Dragons defence held firm until six minutes from time when Robinson struck his fourth penalty to give Gloucester a narrow victory.
In Belfast fifteen points from the boot of Ian Humphreys helped Ulster to a 26-12 win over Bath.
Humphreys traded early penalties with Ryan Davis before Timoci Nagusa's converted try put the hosts 10-3 up.
Davis' second penalty made it 10-6 at the break but a Humphrey drop goal and a try from Willie Faloon in the 52nd minute put Ulster in complete control.
The sides traded two more penalties a piece but Bath couldn't get themselves back into the game, with Andy Beattie's late sin binning not helping.