No substitute can have had as striking an effect on one team's top-four prospects as the unsung 21-year-old local boy from Newport had on Leinster's at Rodney Parade.
At the conclusion of a weekend when the four teams above them all collected maximum points, the perennial Grand Finalists left Newport on Sunday with just one. A losing bonus point keeps them outside the play-off zone, eight behind the fourth-placed Ospreys who left it very late to claim their try bonus in Treviso.
As the last GUINNESS PRO12 team left standing in the European Champions' Cup, Leinster's starting XV against the Dragons contained just three of the side that had lined up the previous weekend against Bath at the Aviva Stadium - Jimmy Gopperth, Mike McCarthy and Ben Te'o.
Most of the regulars had been rested for Sunday's Champions Cup semi-final against Toulon in Marseilles. Even without Lions like Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip and Cian Healy, Leinster confronted the Dragons with a line-up formidable enough to take control of the match.
At 22-8, the only question appeared to be whether their win would come with or without a try-bonus point. Instead the Dragons summoned enough of their indomitable spirit to turn the match inside out. Benjamin's first try having cut the deficit to two points, his second took his native region clear and they then defied Leinster to find a way back.
The Dragons had won in Dublin during the Six Nations. They had never done the double over Ireland's capital province before and the fact that Lyn Jones' squad also had a European semi-final at the back of their minds made their achievement all the more commendable.
Friday night's tie against Edinburgh at Murrayfield will determine which team represents the GUINNESS PRO12 against Gloucester or Exeter in the European Challenge Cup final at Twickenham Stoop on May 1.
Eleven defeats from 14 matches during the first three months of the season hardly supported the idea that the Dragons would be 80 minutes away from a European final. Since the beginning of December they have won 14 out of 19, including Ulster as well as Leinster.
The buck stops with director of rugby Lyn Jones, working in tandem with head coach Kingsley Jones, formerly Philippe Saint-Andre's right hand man at Sale when they won the English Premiership in 2006.
''For me it's all about heart and passion,'' says Lyn Jones, the former Wales flanker who began his coaching career at Neath some 20 years ago. ''The Dragons have struggled in the past, not just to do well on the field but to supply players for the Wales squad.
''Now that we've been winning more often, more players are coming through - great for the club, the supporters and the players. They've got the taste of high-profile matches and they're hungry for more.''
Leinster will testify to that. They are rapidly running out of fixtures in the league which means that if they are to avoid failing to make the play-offs for the first time, they will have to win all three remaining matches and hope results elsewhere go their way.
Their next GUINNESS PRO12 engagement, on April 24, takes them to Belfast where Ulster will be going flat out in pursuit of a home semi-final. Munster are just above them, second on points-difference thanks to a thumping 34-3 win against Edinburgh at Murrayfield where scrum-half Conor Murray had something of a field day of his own.
Next up for Munster - Benetton Treviso at home on April 25. The Warriors, still on course to finish the regular season on top of the table, are also in Ireland on the same day.
Their penultimate away match takes them to Galway where Connacht still have everything to play for in the three-cornered fight against Edinburgh and the Scarlets for Champions' Cup qualification.
In overwhelming Cardiff Blues and their four Tests Lions (Sam Warburton, Matthew Rees, Alex Cuthbert, Adam Jones), the Warriors rattled up their 17th consecutive Pro 12 home win - a run that goes all the way back to November 2013.
On a night when Dougie Hall and Alastair Kellock were given standing ovations in acknowledgement of their imminent retirement, Tommy Seymour ran riot. Peter Horne would be the first to acknowledge a more than generous helping hand from his wing in providing the centre with the fastest try hat-trick in the Pro 12 this season - twelve minutes.
Horne's feat ensured that the Warriors had their bonus point all wrapped up by half-time. His was only the second hat-trick of the current campaign and the 18th over the six seasons since the advent of the Grand Final.
Hat-tricks in the Guinness Pro 12 - the full list since 2009:
This season: (2)
Simon Zebo (Munster v Zebre)
Peter Horne (Warriors v Cardiff Blues)
Last season: (2)
Tommy Seymour (Warriors v Treviso)
Andrew Trimble (Ulster v Connacht)
2012-13: (4)
Tim Visser (Edinburgh v Munster)
Dominic Ryan (Leinster v Treviso)
Dean Budd (Treviso v Ulster)
Andrew Conway ()Leinster v Ospreys).
2011-12: (3)
Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh)
Tim Visser (Edinburgh v Aironi)
Stuart Hogg (Warriors v Munster).
2010-11: (4)
Fionn Carr (Connacht v Scarlets)
]onathan Davies (Scarlets v Aironi)
Nikki Walker (Ospreys v Warriors)
Nikki Walker (Ospreys v Treviso)
2009-10: (3)
Nick Williams (Munster v Dragons)
Tim Visser (Ednburgh v Cardiff Blues)
Will Harries (Dragons v Edinburgh)
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