Seventh heaven for Leinster
Leinster ran in seven tries as they followed up their Heineken Cup exploits with a crushing 45-8 victory over Scarlets at the RDS.
Last Updated: 09/05/09 2:35pm
Leinster ran in seven tries as they followed up their Heineken Cup exploits with a crushing 45-8 victory over Scarlets at the RDS.
Wing duo Shane Horgan and Luke Fitzgerald scored two tries apiece as Michael Cheika's men sent out a clear warning to their European final opponents Leicester.
The Scarlets, who won 52-23 on their last visit to Dublin, were simply overwhelmed in the second half as Brian O'Driscoll, man-of-the-match Jonathan Sexton and Girvan Dempsey also helped themselves to tries.
Sexton proved an able deputy for the injured Felipe Contepomi against Munster in Europe and he hardly put a foot wrong six days later, producing magnificent direct play and scoring 15 points.
He did spend time in the sin-bin in the first half and, while he was off, the Scarlets closed the gap to 14-8 thanks to a great individual try from winger Mark Jones.
Easy chance
But Fitzgerald and O'Driscoll scored either side of half-time, leaving the visitors out of the running with over half an hour remaining.
Sexton did miss an early penalty kick, however the home side controlled the opening exchanges and Fitzgerald crossed for the opening try of the night on 16 minutes.
With the ball spun from right to left, Horgan came in off his wing and a delayed pass from Isa Nacewa put Fitzgerald over to the left of the posts. Sexton converted and Stephen Jones uncharacteristically missed an easy chance to reply.
With their league title heading south to Munster, Leinster were attacking at will and Nacewa hit the line at pace to send the supporting Horgan bounding over behind the posts for the second try.
Sexton converted again, only for Daniel Evans to cancel that kick out with a penalty of his own. The full-back scored from distance, stepping in for the injured Stephen Jones.
Timely try
He recovered to play on and the visitors were finding joy on the left wing. Jon Davies was hauled down just short of the Leinster line after a bulldozing run, from which the grounded Sexton was sin-binned for kicking the ball away with a try all but guarenteed.
The Leinster defence was unlocked again out wide when Mark Jones skipped past three would-be tacklers to score following a Cian Healy knock-on.
Stephen Jones failed to add the extras and Leinster grabbed a try on the stroke of half-time when Fitzgerald slipped through on the left for his third seven-pointer in two games.
Martin Roberts, David Lyons and Dominic Day carried the fight for the Welsh region but Leinster found an extra gear or two in the second half to put the result beyond doubt.
O'Driscoll dived over for a superb close-range score which racked up the bonus point and Sexton then showed a clean pair of heels to the Scarlets defence as he dummied and darted his way over for a try which began on his own 10-metre line.
Leinster continued to press and they got their seventh try when Horgan chipped through for replacement Dempsey to dive over.
