Leinster 45 Scarlets 9
There was so much to admire in the nature of Leinster’s victory that took them back to the top of the Guinness Pro12 table. They had to problem solve from a position of a 12-9 interval lead against a highly competitive Scarlets side that had lost only one of their last 13 matches in the league.
The visitors had racked up four successive victories against Irish provinces and on the evidence of the first half it was easy to see why. One of those included a victory away to Munster.
They caused Leinster all sorts of problems in the first half and despite conceding two tries, were only three points behind. Few would have envisaged the total eclipse that the home side managed to effect, largely in 15 minutes after the restart.
Luke McGrath, who scored a brace of tries in the first half, was lively and sharp and deserved the man-of-the-match accolade but, as has been the way of late, it was an excellent team performance.
At one point there were four Byrnes on the pitch; the Scarlets would probably swear there had to be more given the influence of Ross and Adam in particular. The backrow were excellent, the sharp point on a fine effort from the pack in which Peter Dooley and Hayden Triggs also stood out.
If the Leinster backline lacked a little fluency and, maybe, crispness to their passing before the interval, there was no such issues in the second half. Ross Byrne’s vision and his telepathic understanding with namesake, Adam proved a very lucrative outlet.
In truth everyone can be satisfied with their respective contributions and the bench provided momentum in what turned out to be a brilliant win, albeit in a classic game of two halves.
In the first, the speed of the Scarlets ruck ball was hugely impressive and it allowed them to breach the gain-line in possession time and again because Leinster couldn’t get off the line quickly enough in defence and with superior momentum, the visitors won most of the initial contact points.
It also gave the home side less time to regroup and with a passive, lateral drift out wide, the Scarlets were getting cheap metres. The Welsh side made a mess of a couple of try scoring chances with a poor final pass, having stretched the blue line to breaking point.
Leinster’s excellent set piece was to give them a foothold in their opponents half, from which Luke McGrath’s brace of tries came. The first was on 10 minutes when the home side elected to take a scrum from a penalty eight metres from the Scarlets’ line.
McGrath shaped to go left but spun cleverly and showed great speed and strength to ride the tackle of Jonathan Evans and make the line. His second also had its origins at a scrum, this time a Scarlets’ put-in.
Dan Jones decided to swap from his left foot to right to try and execute a clearing kick inside his 22, McGrath, charged him down, re-gathered, fended off the Scarlets outhalf and scampered over the line.
Ross Byrne, who had converted the first effort, watched as the ball fell off the tee, as he attempted to tag on the extra points for a second time and he had his snap drop goal charged down by Tom Williams.
The Scarlets’ points all came through the boot of outhalf, Dan Jones, three from three and only one of which was straightforward. Most of the concessions were at ruck time where flanker James Davies was making a nuisance of himself at the breakdown.
Leinster might reflect on some of the kicking that gave back possession to the Scarlets who were intent on hanging onto the ball. Referee Nigel Owens took a particular view of the breakdown and the Scarlets were better at interpreting his requirements in this area.
The home side played some excellent rugby at times, varying the point of attack, but after going through a dozen phases several times, a runner would get isolated and the Scarlets were quick to get in over the ball. The visitors racked up four turnovers in the first half.
Leinster’s backrow carried powerfully and indeed they managed the most currency in terms of metres made when the forwards carried in general with Peter Dooley and Hayden Triggs prominent, along with Rhys Ruddock, Jack Conan and Dan Leavy.
When the home side did manage to slow down ball, they forced the Scarlets into a number of handling errors. The weather conditions were a factor, Leinster playing into a strong wind in the first half and that coupled with the unrelenting drizzle added a significant tariff when trying to move the ball wide or offload out of the tackle.
Whatever recalibration the Leinster coaching team made at halftime it worked a treat as the home side had the match and the bonus point wrapped up within 15 minutes after the re-start.
Ross Byrne’s precision with the boot was to be a significant factor. First Fergus McFadden brilliantly claimed a cross-kick, one handed and within a couple of phases Rhys Ruddock had powered his way over the line.
Four minutes later, a coupe of thumping tackles in midfield prised the ball loose and then Noel Reid showed great vision with a long cut out pass to put Joe Carbery over in the corner. The fullback would have another soon after, Ross Byrne’s cross-kick, Adam Byrne’s catch, step and power taking out the last defender before offloading to the supporting Carbery.
The bench was called into action en masse. One of those who joined the fray was Ed Byrne, a twin brother of hooker Bryan, who was out of the game for two and a half years with successive cruciate knee injuries.
The applause was genuinely warm on his introduction but ratcheted up another couple of notches when Ed Byrne crossed for a try. This time there were three of the four Byrne’s on the pitch involved. Ross for a gorgeous cross-kick, Adam for the catch and sidestep and offload and Ed, to dive over the line.
The transformation in the nature of the game was remarkable. Scarlets were beaten and bedraggled and Leinster had discovered the attacking swagger that has seen them record five bonus point victories in succession.
Leinster were fizzing, front-foot ball, dynamic carries on the fringe, excellent vision and accuracy with the kicking game and also in prising holes in a tiring Scarlets side. In the end it was a hugely impressive win, continuing a sequence of high calibre performances.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins: D Jones penalty, 0-3; 10: McGrath try, R Byrne conversion, 7-3; 16: D Jones penalty, 7-6; 20: L McGrath try, 12-6; 28: D Jones penalty, 12-9. Halftime: 12-9. 46: Ruddock try, R Byrne conversion, 19-9; 50: Carbery try, R Byrne conversion, 26-9; 53: Carbery try, 31-9; 58: E Byrne try, R Byrne conversion, 38-9; 80: Gibson Park try, R Byrne conversion, 45-9.
LEINSTER: J Carbery; A Byrne, Z Kirchner, N Reid, F McFadden; R Byrne, L McGrath; P Dooley, R Strauss, M Bent; R Molony, H Triggs; R Ruddock, D Leavy, J Conan.
Replacements: M Ross for Bent 48 mins; T Daly for Reid 55 mins; B Byrne for Strauss 56 mins; E Byrne for Dooley 56 mins; J Gibson Park for L McGrath 60 mins; B Daly for A Byrne 60 mins; M McCarthy for Triggs 60 mins; M Deegan for Ruddock 68 mins.
SCARLETS: J McNicholl; T Williams, S Hughes, H Parkes (capt), DTH van der Merwe; D Jones, J Evans; W Jones, E Elias, W Kruger; T Price, T Beirne; A Shingler, J Davies, W Boyde.
Replacements: I Nicholas for Hughes 44 mins; N Thomas for Kruger 49 mins; M Allen for J Davies 50 mins; R Bernardo for Shingler 55 mins; A Thomas for D Jones 55 mins; L Garrett for W Jones 68 mins; D Hughes for Elias 69 mins; D Smith for J Evans 79 mins.
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
