Scarlets 25
Leinster 14
LEINSTER’S MIXED START to the season continued on Friday evening as the Pro12′s early pacesetters inflicted a second defeat on Leo Cullen’s youthful side.
DTH van der Merwe scored two tries on his Scarlets debut as the Welsh club continued their winning start to the campaign.
The Canadian winger made an instant impact for his new side as Leinster were punished for a slow start and after conceding inside the opening ten minutes, never recovered despite an improvement after the interval.
Isa Nacewa and James Tracy crossed for the visitors in the final 20 minutes but it was too little, too late for the Irish province. The damage had already been done.
James Davies scored the Scarlets’ first try before van der Merwe touched down either side of half-time to convert the hosts’ dominance to points. Steven Shingler added ten points from the tee to stretch their advantage.
As Scarlets took the foot of the gas, Leinster went about adding some respectability to the scoreboard and were rewarded with two scores after Noel Reid had returned from the sin bin.
Reid went about making amends by releasing Nacewa and the comeback appeared to be gaining momentum moments later but Fergus McFadden was unable to hold onto Cathal Marsh’s pass with the try line at his mercy.
Tracy did manager to score his side’s second try but the contest had long been settled at Parc y Scarlets.
Scarlets:Tries: DTH Van Der Merwe (2), James Davies
Penalties: Steve Shingler (2)
Conversions: Davies, Shingler (2)Leinster:Tries: Isa Nacewa, James Tracy
Conversions: Fergus McFadden (2)
Scarlets: Aled Thomas; Hadleigh Parkes, Regan King, Gareth Owen, DTH van der Merwe; Steven Shingler, Aled Davies; Rob Evans, Kirby Myhill, Peter Edwards, George Earle, Tom Price, Aaron Shingler, James Davies, John Barclay (capt).
Leinster: Isa Nacewa; Fergus McFadden, Colm O’Shea, Noel Reid, Garry Ringrose, Ross Byrne, Isaac Boss; Michael Bent, Bryan Byrne, Marty Moore; Ross Molony, Tom Denton; Dominic Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Dan Leavy.
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU).
