BOBBY Skinstad crowned his debut for Newport Gwent Dragons with a try as they romped into second place in the Celtic League table with a convincing 35-14 victory over Leinster at Rodney Parade last night.

Skinstad, the former South Africa captain, went on as a 50th minute replacement to chants of 'Bobby' from the crowd and quickly proved a dazzler as he streaked across on the end of a spectacular move for the fifth and final try.

Fellow South African Percy Montgomery weighed in with a 15-point haul from a try and five conversions to handsomely reward coach Mike Ruddock for switching him from full back to outside centre.

"It was in the script for Bobby to come on and score like that," said Dragons assistant coach Clive Griffiths.

"The buzz word tonight was attack with or without the ball. We rounded it off with some good tries and it was all positive. We asked for action and we got it. It was a step-up from last week, but we will have to tighten up against Llanelli next week."

Ruddock described Montgomery's performance as "awesome". "I'm very pleased. We re-visited the tapes of our form in the Celtic League and drew a line under Europe," he added.

"The attacking plan paid off with some great tries. The quality of the back play was there for all to see and some of the inter-passing was great.

"The try involving Rod Snow and Adam Black was like John Toshack and Kevin Keegan with their passing.

"Europe was so much more physical and time and space was at a premium, but the intent was there tonight and if you were a neutral you would say you saw a great game.

"We won't get carried away, Leinster were under strength and they never gave up. But the quality of our play was so pleasing, cohesive and a real 15-man game."

* Report and pictures: See today's Argus