Leinster made it two narrow wins out of two in Pool Five of the 2012/13 Heineken Cup after defeating the Scarlets 20-13 in Llanelli on Saturday.
The champions started like a train at the Parc y Scarlets and quickly built up a commanding lead inside the opening quarter of an hour of the game.
Leinster got on the scoreboard inside the first two minutes via the right boot of Jonny Sexton and it wasn't long before that same weapon provided the opening try of the match. The Irish fly-half delivered an inch-perfect cross-field kick from right to left after a good attacking lineout was won and Isa Nacewa accomplished the impressive feat of leaping to claim the ball above wing George North and wrestling to touch it down.
Leinster were dominant at the breakdown, pilfering ball left, right and centre and taking advantage of their opponents' errors and ill-discipline, but they had to settle for just another Sexton penalty before the break to leave the score 11-0.
After Sexton and Rhys Priestland had exchanged penalties early in the second half, Gareth Maule finally got the Scarlets back into the game with an outstanding individual try, outpacing Brian O'Driscoll to score in the right-hand corner.
Two further Sexton penalties stretched the visitors' lead to ten again but, after Ian Madigan took his opposite number out in the air to leave the Irishmen with 14 men for most of the final ten minutes, Priestland slotted over the penalty to get the Scarlets back within range.
That was as close as they got though. Even with the extra man, they were unable to seriously threaten the Leinster line they only just managed to hang onto the bonus point as Sexton sent a late penalty attempt wide of the posts.
The scorers:
For Scarlets:
Try: Maule
Con: Priestland
Pen: Priestland 2
For Leinster:
Try: Nacewa
Pen: Sexton 4
Drop: Sexton
Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Andrew Fenby, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Johan Snyman, 4 George Earle, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Shaun Hopkins, 18 Deacon Manu, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Jon Edwards, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Morgan Stoddart.
Leinster: 15 Ian Madigan, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Damian Browne, 4 Leo Cullen (c), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Andrew Conway, 23 Fionn Carr.
Referee: Greg Garner
Comments
makemehappy says...
@curates_egg - My initial reaction was that it should have been a penalty try. After a bit of thought it dawned on me that it clearly shouldn't be. I'm not sure if a try would probably have been scored by a legal tackle. Simply grabbing the ball and forcing Nacewa down on top of North was quite possible. I can understand why someone would still award a penalty try though in the heat of the moment. Personally after reflection, I wouldn't have.
Posted 17:29 21st October 2012
curates_egg says...
One question on the Nacewa try:
He was surely tackled in the air by George North, with the ball in the goal area. If he hadn't grounded the ball, would it therefore have been a penalty try, as North would have prevented a certain try?
I watched with no commentary, so don't know if it was raised - would just be interested to know for future interpretation.
Posted 11:57 21st October 2012
makemehappy says...
@curates_egg - another person who doesn't contest my comments on specific incidents. Glad you are laughing though. I'm chuckling back, as you brought nothing to the debtate but misguided ridicule - very funny. We all have our opinions of the game, and interpretations of events. I don't agree with you, but looks like you agree with my comments as you haven't argued against them.
Posted 11:44 21st October 2012
curates_egg says...
I'm with Leinster goy on this one. Two wins, whilst playing error strewn rugby with an injury riddled squad are two good wins. Thankfully, the defence seems to have been repaired and the scrum was excellent. The high rate of errors is a concern (BOD keeps throwing the ball away) but you just feel that is the type of problem that will sort itself out with more game time.
As for @makemehappy - you must be having a laugh. Scarlets should have had a couple of players binned for constant infringement at the breakdown and constant offside interference. The ref is just not up to Heineken Cup level...yet.
Am looking forward to my trip to Clermont in December.
Posted 10:36 21st October 2012
marzie says...
@ damo - Halfpenny? Priestland perchance?
Posted 09:54 21st October 2012
makemehappy says...
God Im typing well - 'reaf' should read 'read' even!
Posted 08:31 21st October 2012
makemehappy says...
I should reaf If
Posted 08:30 21st October 2012
makemehappy says...
@J_HDK - I you read ,my comments you would see I did not blame the result on the ref. I did point out that he clearly gave them a head start for no reason. I think Leinster would probably have won anyway.
I agree the scrum was in trouble (though he didn't penalise Leinster a couple of times for Healy putting his hand on the floor). I'm sure the Scarlets weren't angels, but clearly Leinster got a way with a lot more than they did. I note you haven't disagreed with the individual events I raised, nor have you added any of your own. I trust that means that actually you really do agree with me and that you simply didn't read my comments that well.
Posted 08:30 21st October 2012
J_HDK says...
Makemehappy no need to blame it on the ref. There was plenty of Scarlets infringements missed too. Scarlets lost for two clear reasons: Appalling scrum and Rhys Priestland
Posted 00:40 21st October 2012
Rosbif says...
Never really realised how important mike ross is to the team. He was also superb in that 2nd test vs ABs. Quiet man. Big effect.
Posted 23:18 20th October 2012
Toulousain says...
as mark twain might have said, rumours of the death of leinster have been greatly exaggerated.
well played the men in blue.
Posted 22:22 20th October 2012
marzie says...
Excellent expression on Drico's mug right there! Curate's egg of a performance from Leinster and Sexton this afternoon. Mainly good tho from both. Hell of a try from Maule whose brilliant step left Drico for dead. Hell of a front row performance by the boys in blue too.
Posted 20:05 20th October 2012
damo says...
Any mention to the shocking kicking display form Halfpenny, not looking like a lions candidate, scarlets should have won the game if they kicked their pen's , usual story
Posted 17:31 20th October 2012
GCP_JONES says...
A workman-like performance, we went with the attitude of just get the result,excelent display in the scrums by leinster
Posted 16:27 20th October 2012
leinster_goy says...
"two narrow wins"...in layman's terms, i believe that can be described more simply as "two wins". given the injury list and the lacklustre start to the season, i'm thrilled with the past two weeks. 8 points secured in a tough group, and some precious time bought to rediscover our mojo, not to mention getting Seany, Robbo, Fitzy etc back in time for the clermont double-header
overall, the match panned out as i had hoped - the Leinster forwards stepped up to the plate and squeezed the scarlets pack to death. no platform for priestland, george north anonymous. Sexto was a mixed grill, Madders' moment of madness (good headline, that) threatened to undo all the good work...but luckily the pack steadied the ship. Big Mike Ross, take a bow
Posted 16:05 20th October 2012
melkdave says...
Leinsters best performance of the season so far,very good in defence,and their forwards had the edge .But still not showing much in attack,compard to other seasons.As for Scarletswell i felt they would win and win quite comfotably.But R.Priestland imois no where near where he was last year,his tatical kicking is very poor,and his not offering a threat on the gain line,allowing defenders to just slide out and nullify,any backline move.While his kicking from the tee is just below par.No chance of getting a Lions place unless he improves dramatically ,hell dont think hell start for Wales this aurtum to be honest
Posted 15:46 20th October 2012
makemehappy says...
Well done to Leinster - thoroughly deserved. Scarlets badly need stronger props (Sampson Lee may get there in a few years) and the back row just doesn't have enough presence for me.
I have to question why the referee insisted on giving Leinster a head start. Penalty against Sampson Lee, who merely fell because he'd removed a Leinster player, just misses hopelessly the point of the 'going off your feet decision. How the referee missed a Scarlets player being interefered with at the same time is puzzling. More puzzling is the instant failure to award the Scarlets a penalty for an illegal tackle (no arms - possibly a professional foul even) on Phil John. Then there was the penalty against Tavis Knoyle for going off his feet - sorry ref, he went off his feet because he fell over the Leinster 8, who was trying to roll away (another problem with the constant request to roll away).
I was a bit surprised he didn't talk to Leinster for the number of infringements at the ruck. That doesn't encourage positive rugby.
But still - well done Leinster - the only team in the group (possibly the only non-French team, other than Ulster) who could hope to beat Clermont.
Posted 15:36 20th October 2012