Leinster 22
Scarlets 17
Sean Farrell reports from the RDS
WITH A SMATTERING of empty blue seats, under-strength teams and 20 points separating the sides in Pro14 conference B, this meeting of last season’s finalists felt a long way removed from the 72-point shoot-out round the corner at the Aviva in May.
If there was a similarity though, it came in the loose, frenetic finish. What had started as a nervous, tight tussle saw four tries shared in 20 second-half minutes. Ultimately it was a Barry Daly try, capping a brilliant performance by the wing, which kept the home side in the winners’ circle.
Scarlets will head into the break 23 points off the pace Leinster are setting, but they can take solace that they ran the champions close here, and were it not for some serious profligacy, should have taken a win.
It was a night when Leinster’s young cohort were forced to think a way out of trouble and they did so with a slice of luck or two along the way and timely surges from James Lowe, Conor O’Brien and his centre partner Rory O’Loughlin, whose try put Leinster in control by half-time.
Jack McGrath built some good form during his 50 minutes before he rejoins Ireland’s training camp next week. Rob Kearney got an hour under his belt, but he will go to Carton House knowing his tackling will need to be tightened up before he takes the field against England.
Scarlets came with intent befitting a team who are title rivals to Leinster. Wayne Pivac’s men owned possession and territory. When the blues did force turnovers or errors and to earn possession, a tenacious Scarlet defence ensured hesitancy was punished.
Save for the odd slip and Kearney being badly stepped, Leinster’s effort in defence did enough too. So the net result of all the visitors’ dominance in the first quarter was stalemate.
The opening score finally came with half an hour on the clock. As Ciaran Frawley settled into the contest, zipping slick flat passes left and right in a 16-phase move, Jack McGrath’s powerful burst gave Leinster their first serious visit to the red zone. Lowe cut inside and was hit high, O’Brien powered into contact and was just unable to free his hands enough to slip Max Deegan away. Once Frawley’s wild cross-field kick came to nothing, Marius Mitrea called play back and the Skerries man nailed the penalty to edge Leinster into the lead.
It was just the tonic to loosen up the tie.
The visitors came very close to an instant response through their powerful forward unit, but an inch out from the try-line, McGrath was neck rolled out of the ruck and the hosts were allowed clear their lines.
After a big O’Brien line-break and clever kick from Lowe, Leinster forced a scrappy try to give them a 10-0 lead at the interval. Mick Kearney’s scooped pass found the ground before it found O’Brien and he helped the ball on to O’Loughlin, the senior centre jinked through contact and stretched his arm over the whitewash.
The second half wasn’t two minutes old when it looked as though a lifeline had been thrown Scarlets’ way. Frawley’s flat passing had offered an enticing target for opponents several times through the first half, and his first of the second period was snagged by Paul Asquith.
The wing had too much pace to be caught on his 40 metre run to the line, but after he silenced the 15,007 in the RDS, the crowd were perked up again by a call for the TMO before Dan Jones could attempt the conversion. And Scarlets’ nil on the scoreboard was maintained as the review showed Asquith’s dive had dislodged the ball slightly from his grasp.
Jones got the tee back five minutes later to kick a penalty from directly in front of the posts, but his low smash blazed left of the uprights. It was in danger of getting embarrassing after two glaring misses, but a slick passing move set openside Dan Davis against Kearney and the flanker darted by the fullback and passed around Jamison Gibson-Park to let Kieran Hardy run in an overdue score.
Scarlets’ territorial dominance continued, however, and Jones kicked his side level on the hour mark, but the home side responded as you would expect reigning champions to respond. After Lowe came close to a score by crashing through the middle, he sneaked in the wide left corner thanks to solid work from Gibson-Park off the back of a solid scrum.
When Vakh Abdaladze roared through midfield and Noel Reid’s grubber teed up Daly for an excellent winning try, it seemed as though Leinster just might grab a scarcely-believable bonus point win.
There was another riposte from the visitors, though, Hardy again profiting off a line break to ensure a nervy final few minutes before most of this Leinster squad can go and enjoy their holidays.
They held on.
Scorers
Leinster
Tries: R O’Loughlin, J Lowe, B Daly
Conversions: C Frawley (2/3)
Penalties: C Frawley (1/1)
Scarlets
Tries: K Hardy (2)
Conversions: D Jones (2/2)
Penalties: D Jones (1/2)
Leinster: Rob Kearney (Noel Reid ’60), Barry Daly, Rory O’Loughlin, Conor O’Brien, James Lowe, Ciarán Frawley, Hugh O’Sullivan (Jamison Gibson-Park ’50): Jack McGrath (Ed Byrne ’50), James Tracy (Bryan Byrne ’60), Michael Bent (Vakh Abdaladze ’70), Ross Molony, Mick Kearney (Oisin Dowling ’60), Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Caelan Doris.
Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl, Ioan Nicholas, Kieron Fonotia, Steff Hughes (Tom Prydie ’53), Paul Asquith, Dan Jones, Kieran Hardy: Phil Price (Dylan Evans ’67), Marc Jones (Dafydd Hughes ’67), Werner Kruger (Simon Gardiner ’67), Jake Ball, David Bulbring (Josh Helps ’5), Tom Price (Ed Kennedy ’67), Dan Davis, Josh Macleod.
Just over a week out from the 2019 Six Nations openers, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey are joined by Bernard Jackman to look at Ireland’s bid for another Grand Slam:
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