Scarlets 5 Leinster 35
An understrength Leinster side brushed aside the Scarlets with ease in west Wales to solidify their position at the top of the United Rugby Championship table.
Leo Cullen’s side were missing over 20 front-line players with 17 in Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for the autumn internationals. Leinster are a well-oiled machine, and a struggling Scarlets side were no match for them as the Welsh side slipped to their seventh defeat in a row against an Irish province.
Max Deegan was the pick of the bunch for the visitors putting in a tremendous performance with his destructive ball carrying, relentless defence, and physicality at the breakdown. This has been the perfect start to the season for Leinster who have emerged victorious in their opening seven games.
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Leinster made the perfect start, drawing first blood after a mere 40 seconds. Scarlets blindside Aaron Shingler had spilled the ball from the kick-off giving Leinster field position. From the resulting scrum Ross Byrne and Charlie Ngatai combined to allow Chris Cosgrave to pierce a porous Scarlets defence for the opening try.
The Scarlets replied with a period of sustained pressure but after going through a number of phases in the Leinster 22 pressure was relieved when Dave Kearney won a penalty at the breakdown. But Leinster began to build their own pressure and came close to extending their lead but Ross Moloney lost control of the ball with the try line at his mercy.
Despite Leinster’s pressure the home side weren’t going to throw in the towel and were sparked into life by a powerful break from Ryan Conbeer. The ball was recycled and went through the hands of Steff Thomas and Dan Jones before a lovely looping pass from Jonathan Davies put Steff Evans over at the corner.
But Leinster were always one step ahead and they were soon celebrating their second try. A smart kick ahead by Rob Russell put the Scarlets under pressure. John McKee got their first, and when they ball rolled over the line Russell touched down. There was a lengthy discussion between the referee and the TMO with there being doubts over whether McKee had spilled the ball forward. But the replays showed the ball coming off the hooker’s head meaning the try stood.
Byrne nailed the conversion from the touchline but the Scarlets hit back with a couple of clean linebreaks. The first came from experienced Wales scrumhalf Gareth Davies who broke clear up the touchline with elusive wing Tom Rogers doing the same a few minutes later. But on both occasions the home side’s handline let them down which meant Leinster turned around with a 14-5 lead at the interval.
The Welsh club had plenty of field position but their lineout malfunctioned while they also made too many unforced errors. Leinster were extremely clinical in the Scarlets 22, with their carrying game nothing short of relentless, and after eight minutes of the second-half Thomas Clarkson powered his way over from short-range with Byrne adding the extras.
The Scarlets showed brief glimpses of how dangerous they could be in attack. On one occasion they were under severe pressure in their own 22 but instead of kicking the ball downfield Johnny McNicholl decided to attack from deep. A risky out of the back door offload released Ryan Conbeer who raced upfield, but Russell beat Evans to the ball over the try line.
But from then on in it was all Leinster who were extremely comfortable and accurate with ball in hand. They were laying siege to the Scarlets try line which led to Dan Jones receiving a yellow card after being caught offside. The Irish province continued to apply the pressure and a pass from Ngatai was intentionally slapped down by McNicholl leading to a penalty try, and another yellow card.
Leinster received their own yellow card a few minutes later when Michael Milne got given his marching orders for an offence at the breakdown. But it didn’t matter as the visitors continued to pile on the pressure and were awarded their second penalty try after the Scarlets had illegally sacked their maul. The home sides scrumhalf Davies was also sent to the sin bin as a result the end result beyond doubt.
Scarlets: J McNicholl; T Rogers, S Evans, J Davies, R Conbeer; D Jones, G Davies; S Thomas, D Hughes, H O’Connor, J Price, T Price, A Shingler, D Thomas, S Kalamafoni.
Replacements: S Evans for D Hughes (55 mins), K Mathias for S Thomas (55 mins), W John for H O’Connor (55 mins), I Shenton for A Shingler (59 mins), M Jones for T Price (65 mins), R Patchell for D Jones (69 mins) A Hughes for T Rogers (72 mins),
Leinster: C Cosgrave; R Russell, L Turner, C Ngatai, D Kearney; R Byrne, L McGrath; E Byrne, J McKee, T Clarkson, R Molony, J Jenkins, R Ruddock, S Penny, M Deegan.
Replacements: N McCarthy for L McGrath (55 mins), M Milne for E Byrne (56 mins), T McElroy for J McKee (56 mins), V Abdaladze for T Clarkson (56 mins) B Brownlee for C Ngatai (63 mins), S Penny for M Moloney (71 mins), C Tector for R Byrne (71 mins)
