Blues Select suffer defeat in Dublin

A Sion Bennett try was not enough as the Blues Premiership Select were defeated 29-10 by Leinster ‘A’ in a hard-fought encounter at Donnybrook Stadium on Saturday.

Justin Burnell’s side were looking to bounce back from last week’s defeat to Bristol in the British and Irish Cup opener, but found themselves 17 points behind at half-time.

The visitors fought their way back into the game during the second half thanks to Bennett’s try and five points from the boot of outside half Ben Jones, but the clinical hosts put the game to bed with two tries in the final ten minutes of the game.

Leinster went into the game full of confidence following a 41-17 win over Doncaster Knights last week, and began the match with intent, as the stern Blues defence were immediately put under pressure.

However, it took ten minutes for the hosts to open the scoring. Ciaran Frawley found touch from a penalty, and the resulting line-out saw a rampaging maul by the home pack awarded with a penalty try, with the centre adding the extras.

Frawley would extend his side’s lead with three points from the boot, before the Ireland Under-20 international proved a danger with the ball in hand, as the centre crossed for his side’s second try of the evening, which was duly converted.

Ben Jones had an opportunity to put his side on the board before half-time, but his penalty effort was off-target as Leinster maintained their 17-point lead going into the interval.

Burnell’s side were dominant in the early stages of the second half, and were awarded for their efforts as captain Bennett touched down from the back of a drive to close Leinster’s lead.

Outside half Jones converted, and it was almost a quickfire double for the visitors, when scrum-half Lewis Jones crossed the whitewash, but was held-up by the Leinster defence.

Jones would slot a penalty to cut Leinster’s lead to seven points, and setting up a tense final quarter in the Irish capital.

However, tries from Bryan Byrne and influential captain Ross Molony in the final ten minutes put the game out of sight for the Blues, with Frawley converting to secure his 12th point of the evening.

BIC Pool 2 – 21/10/17