Dan Parks produced an excellent kicking display to send Glasgow to victory
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Matches: Glasgow 15 - 12 Leinster

Tournaments/Tours: Magners League | Magners League

Teams: Glasgow | Ireland | Leinster | Scotland

Dan Parks won his battle of the boot with Felipe Contepomi as Glasgow held on to beat Celtic League champions Leinster at windswept Firhill. Scotland fly-half Parks produced a near-flawless kicking display in difficult conditions, converting five of his six penalty attempts.

Contepomi was successful with four of his five but it was not enough to halt Leinster's travel sickness in the defence of their title. The Irish side have looked imperious in the Heineken Cup but found themselves leapfrogged by their opponents in the Magners League table tonight.

It could have been worse than a bonus-point defeat for the visitors, with the Warriors seeing a first-half try from Max Evans controversially disallowed.

Glasgow were forced into one change from the starting XV named in midweek, Eric Milligan replacing Dougie Hall at hooker. Hall's shoulder injury was not expected to prevent him linking up with the Scotland camp next week.

Ireland full-back Girvan Dempsey recovered from illness to start for Leinster, who were already missing talismanic centre Brian O'Driscoll. It took less than a minute for the visitors to infringe at the breakdown, Parks converting the penalty from in front of the posts.

But Glasgow soon reciprocated, allowing Contepomi to level. The Warriors thought they had scored the opening try when Evans combined with Lome Fa'atau down the right before crossing, but the officials had spotted a forward pass.

Glasgow soon had the consolation of another successful Parks penalty after foul play at a lineout. Neither kicker was taking any chances in the wind, with both opting to blast their penalty efforts.

Glasgow were on top but had a scare when Contepomi broke through down the right and was scuppered only by a lack of support. A superb 40-metre penalty gave the home side a deserved six-point cushion.

That became nine minutes later from in front of the posts, the referee sin-binning Jamie Heaslip in the process. The 14 men wasted a chance to cut the deficit immediately when Contepomi missed a penalty and Glasgow went into the break 12-3 up.

Glasgow withdrew captain Alastair Kellock and prop Ed Kalman at the interval for Tim Barker and Moray Low. Contepomi atoned for his earlier penalty miss shortly after the restart as Leinster closed to within a converted try of their opponents.

With the wind now on his back, the Argentinian booted another from near halfway to make it 12-9 with more than a quarter of the match remaining.

In the meantime, Glasgow lost Scotland centre Graeme Morrison to injury. Leinster continued to be dogged by ill discipline and Parks made them pay with another penalty, but Glasgow opened the door again and Contepomi made no mistake with his own kick.

With time running out, Parks missed a tough touchline penalty to calm the nerves of the Firhill faithful. But it did not matter as Glasgow held on.

Glasgow Warriors: Bernardo Stortoni, Lome Fa'atau, Max Evans, Graeme Morrison, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Mark McMillan, Kevin Tkachuk, Dougie Hall, Ed Kalman, Dan Turner, Alastair Kellock (c) Kelly Brown, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie

Replacements: Pat McArthur, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Stevie Swindall, Richie Vernon, Colin Gregor, Ruaridh Jackson, Andrew Henderson, Hefin O'Hare

Leinster: Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Luke Fitzgerald, Felipe Contepomi, Rob Kearney, Jonathan Sexton, Chris Whitaker (c), Cian Healy, John Fogarty, Stan Wright, Devin Toner, Malcolm O'Kelly, Rocky Elsom, Shane Jennings, Jamie Heaslip

Replacements: Brian Blaney, CJ van der Linde, Trevor Hogan, Stephen Keogh, Sean O'Brien, Chris Keane, Gary Brown, Simon Keogh