Off-colour Leinster advance into URC semi-finals with win over Scarlets

Leinster were not at their best but they had enough in the tank to see off Scarlets with a 33-21 victory in the BKT URC quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium.

Defending champions Glasgow Warriors are Dublin bound next week after the top seeds capitalised on Alec Hepburn and Vaea Fifita’s second-half sin-binnings to win in front of a disappointing crowd of 12,879.

In their first play-offs appearance since 2018, Scarlets recovered brilliantly from conceding two early tries to only trail 15-14 at half-time.

James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park both crossed before Tom Rogers replied from the visitors’ first real opportunity.

Counter-attacking try

Blair Murray then cancelled out a Sam Prendergast penalty with a cracking counter-attacking try just before the break.

However, Leo Cullen’s men had the better of the closing half, with Jamie Osborne and player-of-the-match Hugo Keenan contributing tries, and Johnny Williams grabbing Scarlets’ only response.

Lowe gave the hosts a fourth-minute lead, crossing out wide via a couple of partially-blocked passes from Keenan and captain Jack Conan.

Lowe’s soft hands then sent Conan through a gap, with the latter putting Gibson-Park in under the posts to make it 12-0.

However, a 19th-minute lineout was the launchpad for Scarlets’ recovery, winger Rogers finishing strongly from a deft Sam Costelow pass. The latter crisply converted.

Well-organised defence, including a Joe Roberts turnover penalty, provided more inspiration for the visitors, who had young scrum-half Archie Hughes deputising for the injured Gareth Davies.

Despite Prendergast’s 47-metre penalty, Ellis Mee hacked a dropped Leinster pass back downfield, and the electric Murray expertly dribbled away from Jordie Barrett to make it a one-point game.

The Irish province, who lost Josh van der Flier to injury, only had themselves to blame as their decision-making was poor at times.

Tight call

Osborne’s timely 45th-minute effort, from a Prendergast chip kick, steadied the ship at 22-14. TMO Andrew McMenemy’s tight call on the grounding went the centre’s way.

Scarlets fell further behind by the hour mark, with a Costelow penalty miss following by prop Hepburn’s yellow card for not rolling away.

Leinster’s experienced bench stepped up, a Dan Sheehan charge-down eventually leading to Keenan slaloming over from a Barrett assist.

Williams reduced the arrears to 30-21 in the 70th minute, darting over after lovely work in the build-up from Fifita and Marnus van der Merwe.

Fifita’s subsequent yellow for a high tackle on Keenan was a killer blow though, and Prendergast clipped over the clinching penalty.