Furlong Helps Leinster On Their Way To Convincing Victory

Academy youngsters Max O’Reilly and David Hawkshaw both scored their first senior tries as Leinster cruised to a 52-25 bonus point victory over the Scarlets tonight.

Leo Cullen’s charges left Parc y Scarlets with maximum points as they leapfrogged Ulster at the top of the Guinness PRO14’s Conference A, ahead of the provinces’ March 6 meeting in Belfast.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell also would have been pleased with a 40-minute workout for returning prop Tadhg Furlong, who got his first taste of rugby in over a year following a series of injuries.

Moving 31-13 clear by half-time and with the bonus point already in the bag, Leinster’s seven tries were shared out between Dan Leavy, James Tracy, Cian Kelleher, captain Luke McGrath, O’Reilly and Hawkshaw. There was also a penalty try.

Speaking in the aftermath, Cullen said: “There was plenty of good stuff in there but there was plenty to work on as well. With quite a number of changes over the last couple of weeks with new guys coming in it was always going to be tough, but overall I’m very happy.

“This is a tough place to come and hasn’t always been the best hunting ground for us. I thought the guys took their opportunities well. We did get pulled apart a few times so there’s still plenty to work on.”

Scarlets’ Sam Costelow opened the scoring with an early penalty, but soon Furlong was having an impact at scrum time and Jack Conan, the eventual Guinness player-of-the-match, was gaining yards with ball in hand.

Leinster threatened out wide through Kelleher and full-back O’Reilly was eager to get involved too, before they went the direct route and it paid dividends with Leavy’s 16th-minute opener.

After Conan had been tackled short from a five-metre scrum, it was left to his back row colleague to quickly dive over from the ruck. Out-half Harry Byrne converted with the first of his 17 points on the night.

Leinster’s joy was short-lived, though, as Costelow and Uzair Cassiem combined in a sharp attack and the latter’s pass was gathered at the second attempt by snappy scrum half Dane Blacker to make it 10-7 to the hosts.

The defending champions regained the lead through a familiar source, as a well-executed lineout maul sprung Tracy over in the 22nd minute. Byrne converted before swapping penalties with his opposite number Costelow.

Leavy took down a cracking restart kick by Byrne to set the wheels in motion for a penalty try. The seven points came after Scarlets number 8 Cassiem infringed at a 35th-minute maul and was promptly sin binned.

The province’s lineout continued to be a rewarding platform, with McGrath breaking down the short side and sending Kelleher inside two defenders for the bonus point score, right on the stroke of half-time.

With Leinster 18 points up, defences were on top during the early stages of the second half. Notably, teenage talent Jamie Osborne came on for his Leinster debut and swiftly drove back Johnny McNicholl in a tackle, aided by Dave Kearney.

As Cullen’s men began to up the tempo and benefit from quicker recycling, they got the scoreboard moving again in the 54th minute. McGrath reached over just to the left of the posts, following up on good approach work by his forwards.

The Scarlets were still showing glimpses of what they could do, and a speedy counter attack – with Tyler Morgan to the fore – was finished off by Will Homer to leave it 38-18.

Any hopes of a fight-back were quashed by a classy try from 20-year-old O’Reilly, who glided through from 40 metres out and sidestepped past Angus O’Brien to open his PRO14 account. Credit to Kelleher for the initial interception.

Once Leinster had repelled what the Scarlets could throw at them in response, their attack found more gaps. Osborne did well once again and replacement Hawkshaw used a clever dummy to scoot over and rack up the half-century.

Byrne completed his handsome haul from the tee, before Scarlets replacement O’Brien wriggled out of a tackle to accelerate to the line for the closing score of the night.