Leinster prove too strong for Scarlets in PRO14 final
LEINSTER stripped the Scarlets of their treasured PRO14 title last night, thereby removing the last vestige of opposition to their European rule.
Defiant to the very end despite their dislocated condition when lesser teams would have given up the ghost on a punishing night, the men from ‘Heart and Soul Rugby Country’ had no answer to Ireland’s supreme province and their imperious ringmaster.
Johnny Sexton gave one of the great fly-half performances of this or any other season, probably the greatest I have seen since Dan Carter took the Lions to pieces in Wellington 13 years ago. Wherever he went, whatever he did, Sexton bestrode the Aviva Stadium like a colossus.
Had it not been for two missed shots at goal and, shock horror, one dropped pass, his performance would have been perfection. Ten out of ten. He terrorised the Scarlets with his kicking, launching an aerial bombardment of such pinpoint precision that it left as accomplished a defender as Leigh Halfpenny scrambling.
And when he wasn’t tormenting them with his right foot, Sexton picked them off with the range of his passing. At one stage the Scarlets’ body language suggested that the cumulative effect had reduced them to a state of utter bemusement as to what stroke he would pull next.
The scoreline may suggest otherwise but let there be no doubt about Leinster’s supremacy. Had they played under the Marquis of Queensberry rules, it would have been stopped inside the distance, perhaps ten minutes before time when Leinster were out of sight, 22 points clear.
Despite injuries causing such disruption that Halfpenny finished up as an emergency scrum-half after a stint on the wing, the Scarlets somehow fanned enough of a flame from the embers of their season to score two thrilling late tries.
They did play better than in the Champions’ Cup rout at the same venue five weeks earlier but without ever suggesting they would leave Leinster in the embarrassing position of being the best in Europe and second best over parts of it.
Munster and Ospreys had done that to them before, each winning Grand Finals immediately after Leinster’s continental crowning. There was never any danger last night of Europe’s No. 1 not completing their first double under the Anglo-Irish partnership of Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster.
Not everything went according to plan, least of all for Isa Nacewa. Like Dan Carter at the Champions Cup final a fortnight earlier, the finest of all Irish imports found himself reduced to a spectator within 20 minutes of starting his last match.
While Carter sat out the entire match in Bilbao, Nacewa hardly fared much better in Dublin, one blow too many forcing him into the most anti-climactic of farewells before the end of the opening quarter. No sooner had Ireland’s favourite New Zealander made his limping exit than Leinster upped the power of their assault, as if in honour of their wounded warrior.
The Scarlets kept bouncing off the ropes in courageous defiance of opponents coming at them from all angles. Somehow they survived the pummelling for half an hour before finally succumbing to Leinster’s heavy artillery.
Jack Conan’s stampeding break from the base of a scrum launched an assault of such sustained fury that the champions had gone through 22 phases by the time the towering Devin Toner applied the finishing touch for one of his rare tries. “They don’t come that often, maybe once every two years,’’ he said. “But when they do they’re important.’’
It ensured that the PRO14’s showpiece occasion would be more than a penalty shoot-out between Sexton and Halfpenny. Just when the Welsh challengers seemed in danger of being overrun as they had been five weeks earlier, they provided a stunning response.
Johnny McNicholl, outstanding from start to finish and a Wales convert in the making, caused enough pandemonium for the Kiwi to start work on a hat-trick from the right wing after first Steff Evans, then Gareth Davies had gone desperately close.
The try, awarded despite the suspicion of a forward pass, raised fleeting Scarlet hopes of reaching half-time within touching distance of a superior force.
If they were lucky to be only three points behind, Leinster struck again to increase the lead to ten as due reward for their supremacy.
Hounded into conceding successive penalties, the Scarlets survived Leinster’s first catch-and-drive before capitulating to the second. Toner’s one-handed take and Sexton’s quicksilver hands sent James Lowe plunging through the narrowest shaft of space at the left corner.
Even by his outrageous standards, Sexton’s capacity for the extraordinary knew no bounds last night. Ireland’s supreme craftsman can nail penalties when he shanks them as he had done ten minutes earlier, miscuing so badly that the ball gave every impression of a puncture on the flattest of trajectories.
Somehow it crept over as did Sexton’s conversion of Toner’s try, the ball setting off wide of the near post only to change direction like a guided missile. Once they had softened them up, Leinster duly put the Scarlets to the sword with three second half tries.
Even then, long after their title had gone, the west Walians had the last word, Scott Williams surging down the left touchline to provide the pass for the excellent McNicholl to make the contest look closer than it really was.