Superior Scarlets run rampant to stun Irish

SIX-TRY Scarlets swept Munster’s meek challenge aside to win a one-sided Guinness PRO12 final 46-22 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Wayne Pivac’s men captured the Welsh region’s second PRO12 title – and first since 2004 – as their devastatingly potent attack floored an Irish province for the second week running.

Impressive semi-final winners against Leinster, Scarlets sauntered into a 29-3 lead with four tries in the opening half-an-hour.

Coping much better with the greasy ball, Liam Williams, Steff Evans, Gareth Davies and Tadhg Beirne all touched down, with Rhys Patchell kicking nine points.

A converted 39th-minute score from Tyler Bleyendaal, adding to his early penalty, cut the deficit to 19 points for a rather shell-shocked Munster, who, wearing their navy change strip, had too many of their leading players off-form as they attempted to lift the trophy in memory of Anthony Foley, their coach who died suddenly last October.

Patchell responded with a 44th-minute penalty before a late flurry of scores, with tries from Andrew Conway and Keith Earls being scant consolation for Munster, as replacement DTH van der Merwe and James Davies took Scarlets’ haul to six in the end, condemning the province to their second PRO12 final defeat in three years.

At Twickenham, in the Premiership final, Exeter edged out Wasps 23-20 to secure their maiden title just seven years after winning promotion to the top-flight for the first time.

Fly-half Gareth Steenson – one of three survivors from Exeter’s 2010 promotion – admitted saying a prayer to his late father before nervelessly booting the winning penalty with 90 seconds to play after earlier tries from Jack Nowell and Phil Dollman.

Jimmy Gopperth and Elliot Daly bagged tries as Wasps refused to relent amid Exeter’s far-superior tight game, but Wasps eventually buckled, with Exeter forcing one too many scrum penalties and leaving Steenson to step up and seal the victory.