Scarlets 17 Leinster 17:Jonathan Sexton may have had an off night with the boot but with the likes of Sean O'Brien in the ranks, Leinster rallied late in the game to come away with a hard-earned draw against the Scarlets to stop the Welsh outfit taking top spot in the Magners League.
The Scarlets looked certain to seal victory after opening up a 17-5 lead but in the last nine minutes tries from Fergus McFadden and Shane Horgan earned the Irish province a share of the spoils.
Rhys Priestland won the battle of the kickers putting over four out of five penalties with Sexton missing 10 points-worth of kicks before slotting over the final conversion which levelled the match. Right at the end, though, it looked as if Sexton would have a chance at a drop-goal to win the match, but just as he was about to collect and pull the trigger he knocked-on and missed out on the chance to end the night as the blues hero.
Despite a rain-drenched Parc y Scarlets the match went ahead as undersoil heating came to the fore to offset the freezing conditions.
The Scarlets welcomed back Matthew Rees, Stephen Jones and Deacon Manu from the autumn internationals and the trio were used as second-half replacements.
Fellow internationals George North (bruised shoulder) and Sean Lamont (bruised hip) were rested. Leinster included Ireland trio Sexton, Gordon D’Arcy and Eoin Reddan.
Despite the conditions the Scarlets thought they had scored a try after only 65 seconds when Morgan Stoddart had followed up a kick ahead, but on the
intervention of the TV match official the score was disallowed due to Horgan getting to the ball before the home wing. But the Scarlets did go into a fourth minute lead when Priestland put over his first penalty from a line-out infringement.
Leinster did not have much territorial advantage but they made the most of a Sexton cross kick which Horgan passed back for centre Eoin O’Malley to race over for the only try of the half.
Either side of a flare-up following a high tackle on Dan Newton by O’Brien, which saw referee Nigel Owens give both teams a serious talking to,
Priestland put two penalties over on 26 and 35 minutes to give the Scarlets a 9-5 half-time lead. O'Brien was a key player for Leinster, making the hard yards with some fine ball carrying.
The Scarlets looked in control at the start of the second half with Sexton missing two penalties and Rhys Ruddock, son of former Wales coach Mike, getting sin-binned for dangerous play at a ruck.
With the extra man centre Gareth Maule went over in the left corner for his side’ only try which looked to have wrapped the match up for the Scarlets.
But after Priestland missed a penalty from halfway Leinster launched a concerted comeback with McFadden squeezing over in the right corner and Horgan following him over only five minutes later.
Horgan enjoyed a late burst down the right side and a run-in try virtually under the posts gave Sexton another opportunity. This time the outhalf kept his composure and slotted between the posts to level the match after an otherwise below par kicking display.
The Scarlets’ frustrations at their failure to secure the win was compounded when they suffered serious arm injuries to props Manu and Peter Edwards.