Young Scarlets suffer defeat in Dublin

by Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Following a win against Connaught last week, the Scarlets were once again on Irish soil as they travelled to Dublin to play current Rabo Direct Champions, Leinster, in the RDS.

With the time of the Wales game affecting the fixture, it was an unfamiliar 7.15pm late kick off time for the League.

Despite a considerable amount of new faces in the Scarlets jersey due to the International duties, the visitors began the game with all the possession, working well through the phases to inch ever closer to the Leinster try line, however, the home team were able to kick themselves out of a pressure situation following a turn over and suddenly play was right back in the Scarlets 22.

There was complete silence as Fly Half Madigan kicked a penalty to secure the home side’s first points of the evening, 3 points to 0. Unfortunately this seemed to open the scoring flood gates for Leinster with Centre Brendan Macken running a good angle to find a gap in the Scarlets defence and score the first try of the evening. Madigan was unsuccessful with the conversion but the Irishmen had a 8 point to 0 lead.

The confidence of the home team was evidence as the Scarlets once more found themselves in a dangerous position, desperately defending their try line. Full Back Kirchner crossed the white wash however; it appeared that his arm was under the ball, preventing the grounding.

The defending wasn’t over for the Scarlets though as the visitors were once more put under immense pressure in the scrum, and it was almost always going to be a penalty try. Madigan obviously added the conversion and with 20 minutes gone, the Scarlets were left facing a score line of 15 points to 0.

Despite tackling out of their skins, the young Scarlets seemed to be unable to offer anything to stop the Leinster forwards powering over for what appeared to be their third try. Despite the grounding of the ball not being visible, the TMO decided to award the try to Prop McGrath. Madigan added the conversion to increase the Leinster lead to 22 points to 0 as they continued to dominate the game totally.

In spite of the huge points difference and lack of possession, the Scarlets didn’t give up and finished the half deep in the opposition 22, working through the phases as they inched ever closer to the 14 man Leinster’s line.

Keeping the ball tight among the forwards, the men in red were unfortunately unable to cross the whitewash as the home team’s defensive wall held firm, resulting in the half time score remaining at 22 points to 0.

The second half started much the same as the first half ended with the Scarlets camped on the Leinster try line.

Scrum Half Gareth Davies finally put points on the board as he charged across the try line from close range. Unfortunately Aled Thomas was unable to add the conversion, but with the score line reading 22 points to 5, the come-back had begun!!!

Unfortunately the yellow carding of Sione Timani for an accidental tripping of a Leinster player meant it was the turn of the Scarlets to play with just 14 men on the pitch.

A try saving tackle from Nic Reynolds saw him use the touch line to bundle Wing Luke Fitzgerald into touch in an attempt to halt the Leinster scoring machine from fully using their extra man.

Superb handling and great angels of running saw the Scarlets score their second try, despite all the odds stacked against them. Replacement Jordan Williams and try scorer Gareth Davies were both influential in the move that saw Centre Gareth Maule cross the white wash. Thomas added the conversion to bridge the gap to just 10 points – 22 points to 12.

Unfortunately Leinster struck back almost immediately with Scrum Half Owen Reddan crossing for the bonus point try. Madigan again added the conversion with a superb strike from the touch line to further increase the home team’s lead – 29 points to 12.

The pressure from the Leinster team continued despite the young visitors courageously giving their all, however they were unable to stop the home team adding to their try haul with Kirchner finally crossing the white wash following poor tackling. Another superb touch line conversion from Madigan saw Leinster notch up 36 points to the Scarlets’ 12.

It was the Scarlets that had the last word with Adam Warren handing off the great Lote Tuqiri to score a consolation try right at the death. Aled Thomas added the conversion to give a final score of 36 points to 19.

It was not the result that was needed before next week’s return to the Heineken Cup, with the Scarlets facing Clermont firstly away and then at home.