Leinster blow Scarlets away

 

Kearney was all over the pitch in the first half running from deep and leaving tacklers in his wake, crossing twice as Leinster improved dramatically from last week's defeat to Glasgow Warriors.

 

The impressive Ian Madigan also got on the scoresheet twice and impressed with the boot landing six conversions for a personal haul of 22 points, while there were also tries for Dominic Ryan and Tadhg Furlong.

 

Tries at the start and end of the game for Scott Williams and Joe Snyman gave an air of respectability to the scoreline but couldn't disguise a one-sided victory.

 

Rhys Priestland had an early chance to get the Scarlets on the board pushed his penalty horribly wide on a difficult day for the Wales flyhalf.

 

Kearney opened the scoring eight minutes in after Rhodri Williams' kick was charged down by Mike Ross, Kearney jinking forward before the ball was recycled and a lovely tap pass from Madigan found the fullback in space again out wide to score.

 

The Scarlets replied quickly when Leinster spilled the ball in midfield and Scott Williams twice kicked on, outmuscling Madigan to dive on the ball. Priestland's conversion was poor and missed the posts and it was 7-5 to the home side.

 

Scarlets pushed upfield and won a kickable penalty only to opt for the lineout and Jamie Heaslip rose highest to steal the ball and the chance was gone.

 

A lovely passing move from right to left found Kearney again and he broke down the touchline kicking ahead with the ball beating a group of five players jumping for the ball allowing Kearney to pounce on his own kick to score.

 

Madigan added the conversion and the only black mark for Leinster at this point was the loss of the impressive Zane Kirchener to injury, Mick McGrath replacing him.

 

A fantastic break from Kearney on the angle created space for Darragh Fanning to drive towards the Scarlets' try line, the visitors' defence was sucked in allowing Devin Toner to throw a loopy pass out to Madigan who was in acres of space to touch down, converting his own try.

 

It looked like Leinster had the bonus point try after Heaslip charged through a porous defence and found Sean Cronin but heroic defending from Gareth Owen saw Cronin knock the ball on over the line.

 

Leinster were less dominant after the interval, with few scoring opportunities for either side. Scarlets' job got even harder when prop Phil John was sent to the sin bin by referee Marius Mitrea for taking out replacement Kevin McLaughlin in the air at the lineout.

 

From the resulting penalty Heaslip drove for the line only to be stopped short. Leinster recycled the ball and Gopperth switched the play, Madigan running a lovely loop on the outside to run in for his second try of the day.

 

Madigan's conversion made it 28-5 with plenty of time still on the clock and the bonus point in the bag.

 

Scarlets were unable to get any structure into their game and kept gifting Leinster opportunities to run in open space.

 

Soon after Dominic Ryan ran in for Leinster try number five, Madigan adding the extras in what was becoming something of a rout.

 

Scarlets continued to struggle, Scott Williams ripping the ball out of the charging Bryan Byrne's hands only for it to fall kindly for Tadhg Furlong who dived over the line for try number six.

 

Madigan, with an air of inevitability, added the extras to move the scoreline along to 42-5 with ten minutes left on the clock.

 

There were further opportunities for the men in blue, who are now unbeaten in 20 games at the RDS Arena, while Jamie Heaslip picked up a late yellow card for a deliberate knock-on in a rare Scarlets attack.

 

Joe Snyman pulled a late try back for the Scarlets from the resulting play, allowing Steven Shingler to reduce the deficit to 42-12 with a last-gasp conversion but there was no debating the result.