SCARLET FACES FOR THE BLUES

Leinster fail to win in Llanelli for a fifth year on the trot

and last gasp defending saved Leo Cullen’s side.

Josh Murphy did see yellow after six minutes following a third infringement within touching distance of the try-line, but finally after 12 minutes of battering the line Ken Owens burrowed over for a converted Scarlets try.

With that initial whirlwind calmed, Leinster began to work their way back into the game as their pack took control.

After Ross Byrne missed a penalty, Rory O’loughlin had a try ruled out for a forward pass, but after 25 minutes Leinster pulled level.

It was a huge rolling maul on the left that sucked in the Scarlets cover, before O’loughlin found Mcfadden on the right wing, and his step off the sideline negated the three Scarlets defenders and the Ireland winger scored.

Byrne was excellent as his touchline conversion found its target.

A Halfpenny penalty put Scarlets 10-7 ahead five minutes from the break, but from there until the break Leinster dominated.

With the clock in the red Samson Lee was sin-binned at the maul, but Leinster went to the scrum and Lowe scored in the corner. Again Byrne kicked the sideline conversion for a 14-10 lead at half-time.

The exciting battle continued after the restart and it was the home side that impacted the scoreline first when their scrum forced Furlong to slip his bind and Halfpenny closed the gap to one point from the tee.

The Ireland internationals continued to flow from the bench for Leinster as Andrew Porter, James Treacy and Luke Mcgrath were introduced as Cullen’s side tried to defend their lead, but an offside infringement from O’loughlin allowed Halfpenny to put his side into the lead from under the posts with 16 minutes remaining.

Leinster had the territory to retake the lead but they conceded a penalty in attack, and after the Welsh outfit worked their way up the line, the brilliant Hadleigh Parkes sent Gareth Davies over for the key score of the game with ten minutes remaining and they held solid after Ruddock’s efforts.