The Scarlets brave bid to make it a double over Leinster this season fell short in the BKT United Rugby Championship quarter finals as they were beaten 33-21 at the Aviva Stadium.
Despite closing the gap to a single point in the last move of the first half with a breakaway try from Blair Murray they were unable to keep in touch in the second half as the table-toppers used their kicking game to keep the visitors penned into their own half.
Leinster went off at a fast pace and were 12 points to the good in the opening 10 minutes. At that stage it looked like being a long day at the office, but Dwayne Peel’s side got stuck in and made life difficult for their hosts.
James Lowe, one of eight British & Irish Lions in the Leinster line-up grabbed the first try on the overlap and then another Australia-bound Lion, scrum half Jamison Gibson-Park, raced to the posts for a second. Sam Predergast converted the second one to make it 12-0.
Scarlets hit back on their first entry into the home 22 with Wales wing Tom Rogers bursting through three players to score a try that Sam Costelow improved. Then they turned desperate defence into devastating attack after Prendergast dropped a ball in front of the posts.
Ellis Mee hacked ahead, Murray joined in the chase and between them the two succeeded in steering the ball 80 metres down the field for Murray to pounce for the try. Costelow converted and that made it 15-14 at the break.
Leinster notched their third try six minutes into the second half when Jamie Osborne raced onto a neat chip kick to the posts from a scrum by Predergast and the conversion stretched the lead to eight points. Costelow had the chance to cut the gap with a 42 metre penalty soon after, but was well wide, and then they lost Alec Hepburn to a yellow card just before the hour mark.
The international prop had just pulled off a great try-saving tackle on Lowe in the corner but failed to roll away and interfered with the ball as it emerged on the Leinster side. If that was a blow, the charge down by Dan Sheehan of an Archie Hughes kick shortly after paved the way for a try for man of the match Hugo Keenan.
Prendergast couldn’t convert that one, but did manage to add two penalties to make the game safe. In between, Johnnie Williams grabbed a third try for Scarlets after Vae’a Fifita and Marnus van der Merwe had gone up the guts to give their international centre a clear run in from 25 metres.
Lloyd added the extras to cut the gap to nine points, but the final Prendergast penalty after Fifita had picked up a yellow card for a high tackle ended any hopes of a late revival.
The compensation for the Scarlets is that their eighth place finish in the league will bring them Investec Champions Cup rugby next season.