Leinster clinched a 36-19 victory over the Scarlets while Glasgow Warriors claimed a 31-10 triumph against Benetton in Friday’s Round 14 United Rugby Championship (URC) action.
At the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Leinster returned to winning ways as they notched a deserved bonus-point win over their Welsh opponents.
The opening half was a closely fought battle, and the hosts held a slender 12-7 lead at the interval before taking control of proceedings in the second half and they outscored their opponents by six tries to three.
Tommy O’Brien and Joshua Kenny led the way with a brace apiece for Leinster while Garry Ringrose and Max Deegan also crossed the whitewash, and Harry Byrne succeeded with three conversions.
Meanwhile, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers and Max Douglas dotted down for the Scarlets at Joe Hawkins added two conversions.
The visitors made a bright start and after holding a slight upper hand during the opening exchanges, they opened the scoring in the 17th minute via Roberts’ five-pointer.
This, after his centre partner Johnny Williams stabbed a well-timed grubber kick through which Roberts collected before crossing the whitewash. Leinster were also reduced to 14 men when Brian Deeny was sent to the sin bin for repeated infringements.
On the half-hour mark, Tadhg Furlong gave the home side good momentum with a powerful carry deep inside the Scarlets’ 22 before the ball was recycled quickly and Ringrose gathered a pass from Jamie Osborne on his way over the try-line.
Roberts was then yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on in defence and things got worse for the Scarlets shortly before Deeny returned to the field as they were reduced to 13 men when Jarrod Taylor also saw yellow for a dangerous tackle.
In the 34th minute, Kenny crossed for his first five-pointer which meant the match was evenly poised when the teams changed sides.
Soon after half-time, Dan Sheehan came to the fore with a barnstorming run deep inside Scarlets territory before Jamison Gibson-Park delivered a perfectly weighted pass to O’Brien, who rounded off out wide.
Shortly afterwards, O’Brien crossed the whitewash again after Osborne set him up with a superb line break which meant the home side had their tails up with the score 22-7 in their favour after 46 minutes.
The visitors needed a response and that came in the 57th minute when Rogers dotted down but Leinster regained the initiative when Deegan crossed for his side’s fifth try 10 minutes later.
That sealed the result for the hosts but there was plenty of action in the closing stages when Douglas and Kenny went over for further tries.
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Meanwhile, Glasgow consolidated their position at the top of the URC standings as they sealed their bonus-point win over Benetton, who impressed during the encounter’s early stages.
The table-toppers eventually ran in five tries with Johnny Matthews, Fergus Watson, Max Williamson, Seb Stephen and Sam Talakai all crossing the whitewash while their other points came via conversions from Adam Hastings (2) and Dan Lancaster.
Benetton‘s only five-pointer was scored by Paolo Odogwu while Rhyno Smith slotted a conversion and a penalty.
Odogwu gave the visitors the lead in the 15th minute before Matthews drew his side level just before the interval when he dotted down.
Benetton would finish stronger though as on the stroke of half-time Smith added his three-pointer off the kicking tee which gave his side a 10-7 lead at the break.
The second half saw the hosts taking control of proceedings and they secured their bonus point by the 67th minute after Watson, Williamson and Stephen scored their tries.
And in the 73rd minute, Talakai added the final nail in the Benetton coffin when he also got his name on the scoresheet.