Plymouth Albion 13 Leinster 16

PLYMOUTH Albion began their British & Irish Cup challenge with a narrow defeat against Leinster in an entertaining game at Brickfields on Saturday.

Watched by over 2,200 spectators, Graham Dawe’s side went in at the interval trailing 13-10 despite scoring a superb try through Liam Gibson with Alex Davies adding a further five points with his boot.

Davies added a penalty midway early into the second half to tie the scores, but Leinster claimed their victory when former Bath star Shaun Berne kicked a controversial penalty with just four minutes of regulation time remaining.

It was the visitors who made the better start and they were awarded a penalty after just 45 seconds when Albion were penalised for offside.

However, Leinster's Australian A centre Berne missed the kick and the deadlock remained unbroken.

The Irish side continued to make all the early running though and Berne was handed another opportunity to put his side in front on six minutes.

Albion were again penalised for offside and this time, Berne made no mistake to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

Within three minutes, Plymouth were presented with a chance to level the scores when Leinster were penalised for offside.

However, fly-half Davies’ kick from just inside the visitors’ half sailed wide right of the posts and the deficit remained three points.

Mark Lee, making his first start, came to within inches of levelling the scores on 12 minutes.

Leinster were penalised for going off their feet at a ruck and from five metres inside his own half, Lee watched his effort drop agonisingly short of the posts.

It was a case of third time lucky for the hosts on 15 minutes when the visitors were penalised for not rolling away and Davies kicked the resulting penalty to tie the match at 3-3.

Having got themselves on level terms, Albion then enjoyed a good spell of possession as they looked to stamp some authority on the match.

They pushed their way into Leinster’s 22 on 23 minutes and only a last-gasp dive from visiting full-back Niall Morris prevented Gibson from touching down Davies’ testing kick.

Yet, two minutes later, the Plymouth pair combined again and this time the move brought about the game’s opening try.

Davies sent a superb cross-kick towards the left-hand touchline and Gibson beat his opposite winger David Kearney - younger brother of Ireland and British Lions full-back Rob - to the ball before touching down for a fine try.

Davies added the extras to give Albion a 10-3 advantage and the hosts looked in good shape to push on.

But back came Leinster and after a good spell of possession which saw them test the home defence, they reduced the deficit to 10-6 on 35 minutes with a second Berne penalty.

The visitors then went back on the attack and despite a brave effort by Albion’s defence, the Irish side went over for their first try in the fourth minute of added-on time.

Centre Berne released winger Michael Keating, who touched down in the left hand corner.

Berne then added the extras from the touchline to give Leinster a 13-10 half-time advantage.

The second period began with Albion on the offensive and they were mixing up their game well in a bid to find a way back into the match.

Their pressure told on 48 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after Leinster were penalised for holding on and Davies sent the resulting penalty through the posts to tie the scores at 13-13.

Plymouth continued to enjoy plenty of possession and they spent the majority of the next 10 minutes testing Leinster’s defensive abilities.

However, with Albion unable to find a way through, there was nothing to separate the two teams with an hour of the game gone.

The hosts lost their own line-out inside the Leinster half on 69 minutes and the visitors immediately broke forward.

They made their way into Albion’s half, but a superb tackle from Keni Fisilau sent Kearney into touch and helped prevent a possible try scoring situation.

However, with the clock ticking away, it was Leinster who were enjoying more of the ball and they went ahead again on 76 minutes.

Fisilau was adjudged to have made a dangerous on Berne - much to the crowd's displeasure - and the latter sent the resulting penalty through the centre of the posts to put the visitors 16-13 in front.

Albion tried all they could in the remainder of the match to find a way back, but they were unable to prevent a defeat.

Albion: Mark Lee (Gary Kingdom 78), Ben Mercer, Keni Fisilau, Sione Tu’ipuluto, Liam Gibson, Alex Davies, Ruairi Cushion, Martin Rice, Joe Clark (Graham Dawe 80+2), Ryan Hopkins (George Porter 80+2), James Waterhouse (Mike Lewis 76), Tom Skelding, Wayne Sprangle, Rory Watts-Jones, Kyle Marriott (capt). Reps (not used): Kieran Hallett, Matt Hopper, Darren Clayton.

Leinster: Niall Morris, Michael Keating, Brendan MacKen (Eoin O’Malley 71), Shaun Berne, David Kearney (Andrew Conway 76), Ian McKinley, Paul O’Donohoe (capt, Simon Keogh 63), Ronan McCormack, John Fogarty (Richard Strauss 44), Jack McGrath (Stewart Maguire 80+5), Trevor Hogan, Ciaran Ruddock, Rhys Ruddock (Paul Ryan 63), Dominic Ryan, Stephen Keogh. Rep (not used): Mark Flanagan.

Scorers: Albion: Try: Gibson. Con: Davies. Pens: Davies (2).

Leinster: Try: Keating. Con: Berne. Pens: Berne (3).

Attendance: 2,208

Cards: Albion: None. Leinster: None.

Referee: Andrew McMenemy (RFU).

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