A BRACE APIECE for Ian Madigan and Rob Kearney saw Leinster cruise to a 42-12 win against the Scarlets at the RDS after a powerful performance that highlighted their strength in depth.
Kearney returned to the Leinster side for the first time this season and immediately made his presence felt by scoring two tries as the province lead 21-5 at half-time.
Leinster had their first try inside ten minutes, with the move starting with Mike Ross’ blockdown of a Rhys Priestland kick. Leinster quickly swung the ball out wide for Rob Kearney to get the opening score.
In the build-up to the game, Matt O’Connor talked about how important it would be to stop the Scarlets forward Rory Pitman from getting over the gain line, and the coach would have been pleased with Jamie Heaslip’s big hit on the back row forward early on.
But once again, turnovers proved fatal for Leinster, as Scott Williams hacked on a loose ball in midfield and beat Brendan Macken for pace to score.
But that try seemed to anger Leinster rather than unnerve them. Soon after, Zane Kirchner broke the line and fed Rob Kearney who chipped the ball and grounded it in the in-goal area before it could bounce dead.
Leinster weren’t finished yet though, and after a Rob Kearney break, Jimmy Gopperth found Ian Madigan with a long floated pass and he finished off Leinster’s third five-pointer of the first half.
The second half went very much the same way as the first. Leinster had an early five metre scrum, and once Madigan found himself one on one with flanker John Barclay, he was able to use his pace to get outside him and score the important bonus point try.
Despite emptying their bench, Leinster didn’t take their foot off the gas. Brendan Macken sliced through the visitors defence and while Cian Healy almost drove over the line, replacement Dominic Ryan made it over on the next phase.
The substitutes acquitted themselves well for the home side, and at one stage they had a back three of Darragh Fanning, Steve Crosbie and Michael McGrath, who all played in the Ulster Bank League last season.
And it was another sub, Tadhg Furlong, who applied the finishing touch, carrying Scarlets danger man Pitman over the line with him to score Leinster’s sixth try under the posts, before second row Johan Snyman got a consolation score for the Welsh side.
