The European champions led 16-10 at the break but despite looking the more dangerous in attack, Leinster saw the home side dog it out to record a narrow 18-16 victory. On the plus side for Nigel Davies’s side, this is just the type of match the Scarlets would have lost last season, so at least the home fans can look forward to a season with slightly more optimism than they had before this afternoon’s kick-off.
Scarlets fans are still waiting for the ‘four world class’ players promised by the region’s chairman Huw Evans but the new players who started all made an impact to varying degrees.
Scottish winger Sean Lamont opened the scoring with a well taken try, coming off his wing and taking the ball in midfield and slicing through the Leinster defence like a hot knife through butter. Lamont looked for work throughout and poses a major threat out wide with his presence and Scarlets fans will be hoping he can get more ball to work with than what he got today.
But that prospect could be beyond the Scarlets if they can’t keep their players on the field. Flanker Richie Pugh, on his debut, saw yellow for a professional foul while fellow debutant Rhys Thomas was also sent to the sin bin for an act of indiscipline which could have separated Shane Horgan’s head from his shoulders.
Both sides were missing their British and Irish Lions and even though the Irish side began the brighter it was the home side who scored first in the sixth minute through Lamont’s effort.
Visiting fly-half Jonathan Sexton reduced the arrears five minutes later and only a last ditch tackle by the covering full back Daniel Evans denied t Isa Nacewa a try in the corner. The blue tide continued to batter away at the Scarlets try line and eventually former Bath fly-half Shaun Berne whipped out a try-scoring pass to Girvan Dempsey.
With Sexton’s conversion and a further penalty the Irishmen appeared to be in cruise control. The Scarlets play became disjointed with their kicking game lacking any sense of precision while the forwards struggled to get to grips with the opposite numbers.
When Pugh was binned in the 30th minute Sexton added the penalty to increase Leinster’s lead and with Thomas soon following the flame haired flanker to the sin bin, the visitors then saw their ranks reduced when Stan Wright wiped David Lyons off the ball a minute before the interval. With Priestland knocking over the penalty right on the stroke of halftime, the Scarlets were still somehow in with a chance, albeit a slim one.
The Scarlets stubbornly refused to cave in to the Heineken Cup champions and stunned the European champions when replacement prop Phil John once again made his presence felt by being in the right place at the right time to accept an inside pass from skipper Mark Jones to score after a typical lung busting run from inside centre Jonathan Davies.
Priestland missed the conversion but he immediately made amends when he landed a penalty to put the home side ahead after Sean O’Brian received a yellow card after stopping the Scarlets in their tracks when a try seemed certain.
Davies, and defence coach John Muggleton, will be delighted the Scarlets held the European champions scoreless in the second half but Leinster would have left Parc y Scarlets wondering just how they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
