Killer Dragons give Munster a roasting
SCARLETS ‘A’ were buried under an avalanche of eight tries in Dublin as they fell to their second successive defeat in the Celtic Cup.
It took a last-gasp try to earn Ulster ‘A’ their 35-32 win in Llandovery, but there was no holding the reigning champions Leinster ‘A’ as they piled on the points for the second week in a row to win 50-12.
Hot on the heels of their 47-28 win over Cardiff Blues, Leinster bagged three tries in the first half, through Jack Kelly, Mark Hernan and Niall Comerford to lead 21-0 and then plundered five more after the break.
The Scarlets at least came up with two tries of their own in the second half to save their blushes. Joe Miles and Kallum Evans finally crossed the home line and Ioan Hughes added a conversion.
The tries kept flowing from the home side and Michael Milne crossed within a minute of the restart. Ronan Foley and Paddy McKenzie, who also kicked five conversions, both got on the score sheet, while Jack Foley and Commerford each got a second.
Connacht Eagles made it back-to-back wins over Welsh opposition as they ran in five tries to beat the
Ospreys 40-19 at Bridgend. Hot on the heels of their opening 24-19 Celtic Cup victory over Dragons A in Galway they got off to a good start with two early penalties from Conor Dean. Then lock Niall Murray cross for the first try.
Dean’s conversion made it 13 points in 15 minutes before the Ospreys hit back with a Joe Grabham try from a driving line-out that Gwyn Parks improved. The home fightback continued as Wales Sevens wing George Gasson picked up his second try in as many games with a score that cut the gap to a single point.
That was as good as it got for the Ospreys in the opening 40 as Connacht battled back with two more tries before the break.
Wing Hugh Lane got the first and then hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin powered over. Dean converted both to make it 27-12 at half-time.
Dean extended the lead with his third penalty after the break before TierneyMartin grabbed his second to bring up the bonus-point. A fifth try from Mikey Wilson followed before Brandon Wood got a consolation try for the home side.
Munster ‘A’ came unstuck against a fired-up Dragons side 36-10 at Rodney Parade. Ben Healy gave the visitors an ideal start with a fourth minute penalty, but the rest of the first-half belonged to the Dragons as they conjured up four tries.
Centre Connor Edwards raced to the posts for the opening try and James McCarthy got the next. Props Josh Reynolds and Luke Yendle then powered over to make it 24-3 with only 17 minutes played.
The floodgates re-opened in the second half as Wales U20 wing Rio Dyer and scrum-half Dan Babos made it six tries for the Dragons. Munster hit back with a try from full-back Rob Hedderman while Ben Fry was in the sin-bin.
Ulster ‘A’ built up an 11point lead against the Blues with Bruce Houston kicking a penalty either side of a try from Ross Adair. Ulster lost No.8 Azur Allison to the sinbin, but the Blues were unable to take advantage.
Ulster added three more tries in the second half, with Adair getting a second, all of which Houston improved, and they ended convincing winners by 32-5 to make it two bonus-point wins in a row over Welsh regions.