Leinster ‘A’ Secure Celtic Cup Victory

The Celtic Cup reached a thrilling end with Scarlets ‘A’ facing Leinster ‘A’ in the inaugural final at Parc y Scarlets following the home side’s thumping of the Dragons at Ystrad Mynach.
The ‘A’ team Head Coach, Richard Kelly commented, “Everyone’s excited for the final clash in the cup, all rearing to go. We’ve recovered well after last weeks triumph game and the boys seem comfortable and have enough time together in terms of prep.”
A decent crowd, many of whom had travelled back from Leicester for the fixture turned up in the sunshine to cheer on boys in the hope of some silverware making its way to Parc y Scarlets.
It was Leinster that opened the scoring with an easy penalty shot in front of the posts for Leinster’s Outside Half, Ciaran Frawley to give the visitors 0 points to 3 advantage.
The home team struck back to level the match at 3 points all through the boot of Jac Wilson, however Leinster scored the first try of the afternoon following the restart, with Hooker Ronan Kelleher powering over under the posts. Kelleher added the extras to put Leinster back in the lead once more by 3 points to 10.
Try number two for both Leinster ‘A’ and Kelleher saw him claim his brace from close range. Frawley was wide with his conversion attempt as the visitors extended their lead to 3 points to 15.
The remainder of the first half was a story of missed opportunities for both sides, mainly Leinster as the half time score remained at 3 points to 15.
The second half started in a more positive manner for the Scarlets as they secured a line-out deep in the Leinster 22, however an error at the line-out soon saw Leinster launch a counter-attack.
The Scarlets did well to work through the phases and were close to scoring their first try of the afternoon after finding gaps in the Leinster defence, however, again an unforced error saw the ball being lost forward over the line and all the hard work again went unrewarded.
The second half saw a lot more attacking play from the Scarlets contingent, however they seemed unable to find that one final pass that would get them over the try line.
As the game reached its final minutes, Leinster were down to 14 men with replacement Hooker, Bryan Byrne shown the yellow card. This offered the Scarlets a penalty kick to the corner and the chance to drive forward.
A huge driving maul for all bar two of the team saw the Scarlets finally score their first try, with replacement Prop, Javan Sebastian claiming the score as the home side were finally rewarded for all their efforts in the second half. Wilson was just wide with his conversion attempt as the Scarlets narrowed Leinster’s lead to just 7 points – 8 points to 15 and were clearly hungry for more tries.
Leinster were clearly trying to protect their lead as they attempted to bring their Hooker back on early from his sin binning. It was fortunate that the Scarlets faithful were more alert than the officials, with one ardent supporter ensuring that the referee was aware of their actions.
Despite kicking for the corner in a final attempt to gain something from the fixture, the game ended in a win for Leinster ‘A’ by 8 points to 15.