Leinster clinched a 36-19 victory over the Scarlets while Glasgow Warriors claimed a 31-10 triumph against Benetton in Friday\u2019s Round 14 United Rugby Championship (URC) action.<\/p>\n
At the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Leinster returned to winning ways as they notched a deserved bonus-point win over their Welsh opponents.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Tommy O\u2019Brien and Joshua Kenny led the way with a brace apiece for Leinster<\/a> while Garry Ringrose and Max Deegan also crossed the whitewash, and Harry Byrne succeeded with three conversions.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers and Max Douglas dotted down for the Scarlets<\/a> at Joe Hawkins added two conversions.<\/p>\n 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\u2019 five-pointer.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n On the half-hour mark, Tadhg Furlong gave the home side good momentum with a powerful carry deep inside the Scarlets\u2019 22 before the ball was recycled quickly and Ringrose gathered a pass from Jamie Osborne on his way over the try-line.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In the 34th minute, Kenny crossed for his first five-pointer which meant the match was evenly poised when the teams changed sides.<\/p>\n 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\u2019Brien, who rounded off out wide.<\/p>\n Shortly afterwards, O\u2019Brien 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.<\/p>\n Sharks v Cardiff: Five takeaways as Springboks luxury helps JP Pietersen\u2019s men overcome \u2018lacklustre\u2019 performance<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s fifth try 10 minutes later.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Glasgow<\/a> consolidated their position at the top of the URC<\/a> standings as they sealed their bonus-point win over Benetton, who impressed during the encounter\u2019s early stages.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n