Williams makes Munster pay

Man of the Match Owen Williams put the boot into Munster to guide Scarlets to an 18-10 win at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.

The 20-year-old flyhalf scored all Scarlets’ points, with the victory moving the Welsh side into the top four of the Pro12.

In Saturday’s other Pro12 match, Leinster scored six tries in a 40-5 thumping of Treviso at Royal Dublin Society.

We look at all Saturday’s action!

Scarlets 18-10 Munster

Flyhalf Owen Williams landed five penalties and a drop goal as the Scarlets took advantage of a rare off day from Ronan O'Gara to claim an 18-10 victory over Munster.

The Welsh side were never behind at Parc y Scarlets once the 20-year-old tyro gave them the lead from the tee, with O'Gara left to rue three missed penalties.

But Williams showed nerves of steel to control play, keeping his side in the driving seat until he saw yellow in the dying moments.

Munster had an early opportunity to move ahead but O'Gara was wayward with a penalty after two minutes, with the ball landing several yards short of the posts.

The experienced Ireland international's radar was off and as he went on to strike the post with a second effort after the Scarlets were caught offside.

Williams was not in as generous a mood and put the home side 3-0 up after a series of attacking phases drew the penalty from Munster on 13 minutes.

And it was 6-0 when referee Dudley Phillips penalised the Irish side for going off their feet at the ruck, giving Williams a shot at goal from just inside his own half.

But the 20-year-old struck it perfectly to extend the Scarlets' lead on 18 minutes.

The home side continued to pass the ball with good interplay among the backs and were dominating possession but Munster were looking powerful up front, winning two free kicks at scrum time.

With 12 minutes to the break the hard work of Munster's front five paid dividends earning a penalty that O'Gara struck between the posts.

But despite continuing to apply pressure to the home side it was the Scarlets who scored next, Williams nailing a penalty from halfway to restore his side's six-point lead at the break.

The game continued in the same vein at the start of the second half with the Scarlets on the attack, only for Williams to miss with his fourth penalty attempt of the evening.

But on 49 minutes he plundered another three-pointer to increase the pressure on the visiting side.

Things might have been different had O'Gara had his kicking boots on, but on 54 minutes he struck the post with a penalty for the second time to let the Scarlets off the hook.

And Williams made him pay for the miss with his fifth successful strike of the evening to give the hosts a 12-point cushion at Parc y Scarlets.

Munster's cause wasn't helped when skipper Mike Sherry – at 24 one of the youngest men to captain the side – was given a ten-minute spell in the sin bin as the game entered the final quarter.

And with 15 minutes left Williams looked to have put the game beyond last year's beaten finalists when he struck a drop goal to make the score 18-3.

With the result decided both sides rung the changes in the final minutes and on 80 minutes Williams was shown yellow as he was named man of the match, forcing the home side to play out the final seconds with 14 men.

With a man down Munster wing Denis Hurley finally broke through the Welsh defence to touch down for the first try of the game.

O'Gara made short work of the conversion as the Scarlets held on to claim an 18-10 victory and move above the Ospreys into the top four of the Pro12, opening up a five-point lead over Munster in sixth.

The scorers:

For Scarlets:

Pens: Williams 5

DG: Williams

For Munster:

Try: Hurley

Con: O'Gara

Pen: O'Gara

Yellow cards: Mike Sherry (Munster, 56), Owen Williams (Scarlets, 80)

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Gareth Owen, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Aled Davies. 8 Kieran Murphy, 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Rob McCusker (captain), 5 Johan Synman, 4 George Earle, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Emyr Phillips, 1 Phil John.

Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Aled Thomas 23 Nick Reynolds.

Munster: 15 Ian Keatley, 14 Denis Hurley, 13 Ivan Dineen, 12 JJ Hanrahan, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Paddy Butler, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Ian Nagle, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Mike Sherry (captain), 1 Wian du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Damien Varley, 17 John Ryan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Sean Dougall, 21 Cathal Sheridan, 22 Danny Barnes, 23 Casey Laulala.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Neil Hennessy (Wales), Simon Rees (Wales)

TMO: Gareth Simmonds (Wales)

Leinster 40-5 Treviso

Dominic Ryan bagged a memorable hat-trick of tries as Leinster blew away Treviso with a flurry of first-half tries to seal a 40-5 victory and assert themselves as one of the favourites for a Pro12 play-off place.

The Irish province had wrapped up the bonus point inside the opening half an hour after two tries from Ryan and a double from Sean Cronin had secured a 26-0 half-time lead.

The defeat left Treviso still searching for a first win on Irish soil since December 2011 but they remain eighth in the Pro12 table as Leinster solidified third position behind Glasgow Warriors and leaders Ulster.

Leinster were dominant from the first whistle as they spent the majority of the opening exchanges inside the Treviso 22 and it wasn't long before the first try came courtesy of Ryan.

The flank had control of the ball after a successful line-out and pushed over to score his first try of the season but Ian Madigan missed with the conversion.

And just three minutes later they were further ahead thanks to a brilliant score from Irish international Cronin. Upon received a pass from Luke Fitzgerald, the hooker ran the length of the pitch to touch down.

Madigan this time, however, was successful with the extras from a tough angle before James Ambrosini missed a simple penalty for the visitors, summing up their start.

Madigan was soon called into action again when Ryan crossed for his second try of the evening in what was a carbon copy of his first. The flyhalf duly converted and Leinster had raced into a 19-0 lead after just 23 minutes.

They required just one more score to seal the try bonus point against their Italian opponents and that came in the 27th minute when Cronin, not to be outdone by his teammate, grabbed his second of the evening, throwing a great dummy and putting on the gas to score under the posts.

Madigan converted and it was 26-0 with not even half an hour played and that was how it stayed until half-time with Treviso lock Marco Fuser's substitution for Filippo Giusti the only other action.

But clearly boosted by his first-half efforts, Ryan came out to complete his hat-trick six minutes after the restart with a familiar conversion from Madigan to take the score on to 33-0.

However, the home fans were slightly surprised by a spirited Treviso side who then got their first points of the evening with a try of their own, courtesy of wing Ludovico Nitoglia, although Ambrosini couldn't kick the extras.

Both sides made a whole host of substitutions around the hour mark and it was one of the home side's fresh blood that made an instant impact, Leo Auva'a going over in the 69th minute.

Wing Fergus McFadden took over kicking duties after Madigan's departure and converted the try to seal a 40-5 victory for Leinster keeping them very much in the play-off race.

The scorers:

For Leinster:

Tries: Ryan 3, Cronin 2, Auva'a

Cons: Madigan 4, McFadden

For Treviso:

Try: Nitoglia

Teams:

Leinster: 15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Dave Kearney, 13 Eoin O'Malley, 12 Andrew Goodman, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jordi Murphy, 7 Dominic Ryan, 6 Rhys Ruddock (captain), 5 Devin Toner, 4 Ben Marshall, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 Aaron Dundon, 17 Jack O'Connell, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Leo Cullen, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Fionn Carr.

Treviso: 15 Giulio Toniolatti, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Andrea Pratichetti, 12 Doppies La Grange, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Valerio Bernabò, 6 Dean Budd, 5 Corniel Van Zyl (captain), 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Jacobus Roux, 2 Giovanni Maistri, 1 Michele Rizzo,

Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 18 Pedro Di Santo, 19 Enrico Ceccato, 20 Filippo Giusti, 21 Christian Loamanu, 22 Luca Morisi, 23 Brendan Williams.

Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)

Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Barrie O'Connell (Ireland)