RUGBY
Leinster pulling clear of all the rest in Pro14 table
By Daire Walsh
Leinster moved an astonishing 21 points clear at the summit of the Guinness PRO14 Conference B table with a nail-biting win over Scarlets at the RDS on Friday night.
In a game that only truly caught fire in the closing-quarter, the Blues had just five points to spare (22-17) against the team they defeated in last season’s Grand Final.
It has been a busy January for Kill’s Adam Byrne, who completed the full 80 minutes in Leinster’s recent victories over Ulster (PRO14), Toulouse and Wasps (both Champions Cup).
He bagged his fourth try of the campaign in the emphatic home success against Toulouse and while he missed out on the Ireland squad for the opening round of the Six Nations, he was called into last week’s training camp in Portugal as a temporary replacement for Munster winger Andrew Conway.
This broke his cycle of starts in the Leinster back-three, meaning the prolific Barry Daly joined the fit-again Rob Kearney and James Lowe in this crucial department. Elsewhere, James Tracy (another native of Kill) featured in the front-row alongside Jack McGrath and Michael Bent.
Eadestown man Jimmy O’Brien was hoping to make his fourth appearance of the campaign, but was ultimately an unused replacement on the night. Having weathered an early storm by Wayne Pivac’s visitors, Leinster finally opened the scoring through a Ciaran Frawley penalty just past the half-hour mark.
Now that they were up and running, a try inevitably followed on the stroke of half-time. It wasn’t the cleanest move they’ve ever executed, Rory O’Loughlin making the most of a Conor O’Brien pass to squeeze over the line.
Frawley’s routine bonus strike lifted Leinster into a 10-0 lead, before the raw fly-half appeared to offer Scarlets a way back on the resumption. His ambitious pass out wide to Barry Daly was intercepted by Paul Asquith, who seemingly raced away for a simple try.
Yet, with Dan Jones lining up the resulting conversion, referee Marius Mitrea was asked to consult the TMO. Asquith’s failure to ground the ball beyond the whitewash led to the cancellation of the try and the relief in the Grandstand was palpable.
Jones’ wayward penalty on 49 minutes was another let-off for Leinster, but their luck ran out when Kieran Hardy completed a multi-layered move with a try on the right-hand side. While Jones added five consecutive points off the tee to wipe out Leinster’s advantage, the hosts re-discovered their attacking rhythm inside the final-quarter.
Wing men Lowe and Daly touched down on either flank to give the Blues a commanding 22-10 cushion. This was immediately pegged back by Hardy’s second try of the contest, but Leinster held out for a 12th win of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Athy’s Jeremy Loughman featured for Munster in their scrappy 8-7 triumph against the Dragons at Rodney Parade on Saturday. Making his fourth start of the season (his 11th appearance overall), the loosehead prop completed 65 minutes as the Red Army recorded five consecutive wins on the bounce.