Scarlets 35 Leinster 22

Leinster suffered defeat for just the second time in their United Rugby Championship campaign when they fell short to a well-drilled Scarlets side in Llanelli this evening.

While they are still eight points clear at the summit with only two rounds remaining, there is some work left to do before Leo Cullen’s charges can seal top spot in the URC regular season table.

There was just under nine minutes gone when Scarlets No 8 Taine Plumtree (son of former Ireland assistant coach John Plumtree) broke powerfully into the opposition half to release Gareth Davies for a breakthrough try.

Sam Costelow followed up his bonus strike in the wake of this score with a successful penalty, but Leinster finally got up and running when Ross Byrne convincingly knocked over a place-kick of his own on 18 minutes.

While Scarlets reinforced their authority with a Tom Rogers try off a crossfield kick from Costelow, the visitors issued an immediate response to the concession of this five-pointer. Despite gathering the resulting restart, Costelow was blocked down by early Leinster replacement Diarmuid Mangan and his fellow Kildare native Jamie Osborne was on hand to claim the loose ball and cross over in comfortable style.

Although Scarlets regained momentum when Plumtree intercepted a Byrne pass for a breakaway score on the half-hour mark, Mangan dotted down for his maiden try in professional rugby on 35 minutes following initial approach work from Liam Turner.

A wayward Byrne conversion meant Leinster trailed by seven points (22-15) at the end of an entertaining opening period and this lead was extended within two minutes of the resumption when a superb break from Blair Murray paved the way for Joe Roberts to ease over for a Scarlets bonus try.

Yet attacking opportunities were proving to be endless for both teams and Leinster were very much in the reckoning when No 8 James Culhane rounded off an extended attack with a 47th minute try.

However, a Scarlets side desperate for a win to boost their play-off prospects stretched 10 points clear on 55 minutes through a Ioan Lloyd penalty and this cushion remained intact moving into the final 10 minutes of the action.

The hosts received something of a let-off when Leinster back-row Alex Soroka had a potential game-changing try disallowed, but Dwayne Peel’s men nevertheless put the seal on a deserved victory when Lloyd split the posts from a long-distance penalty just shy of the 80-minute mark.

Scorers – Scarlets: G Davies, T Rogers, T Plumtree, J Roberts try each, S Costelow pen, 3 cons, I Lloyd 2 pens. Leinster: J Osborne, D Mangan, J Culhane try each, R Byrne pen, 2 cons.

SCARLETS: B Murray; T Rogers (M Page 64), J Roberts, J Williams, E Mee; S Costelow (I Lloyd 48), G Davies (A Hughes 75); A Hepburn, R Elias (M van der Merwe 55), H Thomas (S Wainwright 55); A Craig (J Price 69), S Lousi; V Fifita, J MacLeod, T Plumtree (J Taylor 75). 

LEINSTER: C Frawley; A Osborne (C Tector 51), L Turner (R Moloney 78), J Osborne, J O’Brien; R Byrne, F Gunne (C Foley 64); C Healy (J Boyle 51), R Kelleher (G McCarthy 51), T Clarkson (R Slimani 51); R Baird (S Penny 40-43), B Deeny (D Mangan 15); A Soroka, W Connors (S Penny 48), J Culhane.

Referee: M Adamson (SRU).