Leinster have pulled off a dramatic comeback win over Castres, in France, to take a major step towards the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup.

Jimmy Gopperth was the hero of the 29-22 win in France, scoring two tries on his way to a total of 21.

The French side made a dream start, going 14-0 ahead after 20 minutes, thanks to tries from Richie Gray and Brice Dulin. Leinster battled back into the game with two tries from Gopperth before the break. Cedric Garcia added a penalty for the hosts and it was 17-12 at half-time.

It was 15 minutes into the second half before the next score came from Gopperth’s boot, the penalty reducing the gap to 2.

From that point tough there wasn’t much longer to wait for additional scores as Leinster added to their total with clinical regularity. The Irish side were soon ahead thanks to a superb long range drop goal from Rob Kearney, with the full back kicking over from 40 metres out.

Two penalties from Gopperth stretched Leinster’s advantage to 7 on 63 minutes.

The odds on the away win were lengthened as Leinster were reduced to fourteen men from the 69th to 79th minute as Sean Cronin sat in the sin bin for coming in from the side.

Any fears of a late Castres surge were allayed in the 77th minute when a surge from Cian Healy led to a Jordi Murphy try in the corner to put Leinster.

Castres did hit back, scoring a try in the final minute of the game when Remi Lamerat crossed the line.
The win puts Leinster on 17 points in Pool 1, 4 ahead of second placed Northamton and 8 ahead of Castres.