Leinster beat Scarlets 20-13 at the RDS Arena while Cardiff Blues edged out Munster 25-18 at Arms Park in PRO14 action on Saturday.
Leinster 20-13 Scarlets
Leinster moved clear of the Scarlets at the top of the PRO14's Conference B table when they beat the Welsh region 20-13 at the RDS Arena on Saturday.
The Irish province had to work hard for this victory and they eventually outscored their visitors three tries to one with James Lowe leading the way with a deserved brace.
The Scarlets dominated the early exchanges and took a deserved lead in the 10th minute when Johnny McNicholl crossed for the opening try after Tadhg Beirne and James Davies did well in the build-up.
Five minutes later, Leinster were dealt a blow when Rory O’Loughlin was forced off the field for a Head Injury Assessment. The centre did not return to the field with Ciarán Frawley coming on to replace him.
The home side were gradually gaining the upper-hand and were rewarded in the 19th minute when, after a dominant maul from their forwards, the ball was shifted wide to Lowe who rounded off in the corner.
And five minutes before half-time, Lowe did it again when he scored his second try, after Scott Fardy did well to poach a Scarlets lineout ball inside the visitors' 22 in the build-up – The try giving Leinster a 10-7 lead at half-time.
The home side were fastest out of the blocks in the second half and just 30 seconds after the kick off, they scored their third try with Lowe heavily involved in the build-up.
The New Zealander showed how quick and powerful he is when he set off on a barnstorming run and after bumping off Corey Baldwin, he offloaded to Luke McGrath, who dotted down.
Frawley converted which gave the hosts a 17-7 lead before Dan Jones reduced the deficit in the 58th minute via a penalty.
Frawley restored his side's 10-point lead when he slotted a penalty in the 70th minute but Jones made sure his side would leave with a losing bonus point when he added his second three-pointer off the kicking tee shortly before the end.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Lowe 2, McGrath
Con: Frawley
Pen: Frawley
For Scarlets:
Try: McNicholl
Con: Jones
Pens: Jones 2
Leinster: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Noel Reid, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath (c), 8 Max Deegan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Scott Fardy, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Michael Bent, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Ed Byrne
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Oisín Heffernan, 19 Ian Nagle, 20 Will Connors, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Barry Daly
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Paul Asquith, 12 Steff Hughes (c), 11 Ioan Nicholas, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 Josh Macleod, 7 James Davies, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Steve Cummins, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Dylan Evans
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Phil Price, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 Will Boyde, 21 Declan Smith, 22 Corey Baldwin, 23 Tom Williams
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Jonathan Peak (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Cardiff Blues 25-18 Munster
Cardiff Blues claimed a massive scalp when they upset high-flying Munster 25-18 in PRO14 action at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday evening.
After a quiet opening quarter, Blues flank Macauley Cook brought the game to life in the 19th minute when he finished a move he started, going over out on the right.
Soon after, the hosts had their second, this time Lloyd Williams charging down a Munster kick to dot down. It was 12-0 after that quickfire double salvo as Cardiff's Jarrod Evans slotted one from two conversions.
It was beginning too look dire for Munster when ReyLee-Lo's kick was chased down by Owen Lane, who ran in the Blues' third just moments later.
The visitors responded five minutes before the interval as Chris Cloete went over in the corner to go into the interval trailing 19-5.
They seemed to have woken up after the break as they came out firing and immediately began to put the Blues under persistent pressure, which told when Matthew Rees was yellow carded for being the last culprit in a string of offsides.
Munster immediately took advantage of the numerical advantage, with Stephen Fitzgerald sliding over on the right. Keatley's conversion meant the deficit was just four.
Blues fly-half Evans then restored the lead back to seven, scoring his side's first points of the second half with a penalty. He then put more breathing space between the sides with another penalty, this time from long range.
Substitute fly-half Tyler Bleyendaal added a late penalty to secure a losing bonus-point for the visitors as the tie finished 25-18.
The scorers:
For Cardiff Blues:
Tries: Cook, Williams, Lane
Cons: Evans 2
Pens: Evans 2
Yellow Card: Rees
For Munster:
Tries: Cloete, Fitzgerald
Con: Keatley
Pen: Keatley, Bleyendaal
Cardiff Blues: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 Aled Summerhill, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 Owen Lane, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 6 Macauley Cook, 5 Seb Davies, 4 George Earle, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins (c)
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Olly Robinson, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Ryan Edwards
Munster: 15 Stephen Fitzgerald, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Ronan O’Mahony, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Jack O’Donoghue (c), 5 Darren O’Shea, 4 Gerbrandt Grobler, 3 John Ryan, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 James Cronin, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Dave O’Callaghan, 21 James Hart, 22 Tyler Bleyendaal, 23 Simon Zebo
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Dan Jones (Wales), Rhys Thomas (Wales)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)
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