Depleted Leinster fall victim to unerring accuracy of Harris

Cardiff 30 Leinster 17

Iestyn Harris is beginning to earn the £1m it cost to lure him from rugby league to the 15-a-side game. The Cardiff fly-half has turned in consecutive match-winning performances with the boot, kicking 20 points against Leinster on Saturday night to complement the 18 he slotted in Cardiff's 18-15 win over Borders the previous week.

He has yet to bring the silky running skills he showed as a league player to Welsh rugby, but his immaculate goal-kicking is reaping rewards.

Cardiff, the first Welsh side to beat Leinster in the Celtic League, have probably ended the Irish province's hopes of retaining their title, but the new Cardiff coach, Dai Young, is not getting carried away with his side's consecutive wins.

"There are things we still need to work on," Young said. "It wasn't a great win but at least it was a win. Our goal is to try to improve every game, both individually and as a team.

"It would have been a much harder game if they'd had their full team out here, but you don't win championships without having a strong squad."

Leinster were forced to travel to the Welsh capital without the 11 first-choice players who were in Russia with the Ireland team. The loss proved too much as the talented home back row of Rob Appleyard, Martyn Williams and the Canadian No 8 Dan Baugh ran riot.

The turning point came at the end of the first half with Cardiff trailing 6-7. The Scottish referee Iain Ramage sent the Leinster prop Niall Treston to the sin-bin for a professional foul, and the visitors' one-point advantage had become a 17-point defi `cit by the time Treston returned.

In the opening minute of the second half, Harris belted a trademark 50-metre clearance, Cardiff hijacked Leinster's line-out and quick use of the ball gave Anthony Sullivan the time and space to score in the corner. Harris added the extras from the touchline and his fourth penalty goal a minute later to finally give the home crowd something to cheer about this season.

Cardiff were not finished. A great burst from the scrum-half, Ryan Powell, set up quick ball for Williams to score in the same spot as Sullivan.

Leinster hit back when the inside centre David Quinlan slipped some weak tackles to put Aidan Kearney over. Andy Dunne's conversion cut the margin to 10 points, and his penalty goal moments later narrowed it to seven with 14 minutes remaining.

The Arms Park support braced themselves for another collapse, but Harris's fifth penalty goal on the 70-minute mark gave his team some breathing space and his sixth in the last minute finished the job.

Cardiff: Tries Sullivan, Williams; Conversion Harris; Penalties Harris 6.

Leinster: Tries Dillon, Kearney; Conversions O'Meara, Dunne; Penalty Dunne;

Cardiff: D van Vuuren; N Walne, J Robinson, P Muller, A Sullivan; I Harris, R Powell; T Payne, G Woods, G Powell (K Fourie, 65), H Senekal, A Jones, R Appleyard, D Baugh (D McShane, 65), M Williams (capt).

Leinster: C Warner; K Lewis, S Horgan, D Quinlan, G D'Arcy; A Dunne, B O'Meara (B Willis, 61); E Byrne (P Coyle, 61), P Smyth (capt), N Treston, B Gissing (N Breslin, 41), A Kearney, A McCullen, D Dillon, L Toland (S Jennings, 61).

Referee: Iain Ramage (Scotland).