Scarlets Stay In The Hunt For The Title

Llanelli Scarlets 51 - 20 Leinster Stradey Park   Att: 5,679 Referee: Malcolm Changleng Friday 16th April 2004, 19:30

Five second half tries from a rampant Scarlets side kept the Welshmen on level terms with Ulster at the top of the Celtic League.

The Scarlets put last week’s Heineken Cup heartbreak behind them as they overpowered a Leinster Lions side containing eight of Ireland’s Triple Crown heroes to stay neck and neck with Ulster at the top of the Celtic League. Stephen Jones helped himself to 21 points as the home side put the misery of their defeat by Biarritz in the European quarter-final firmly behind them. Five second half tries flowed after the Scarlets had taken the initiative in the opening 40 minutes with a 13-5 lead. The first two of Jones’ three penalties gave the home side an early advantage, but it was the Lions who grabbed the first try when Irish wing Shane Horgan rounded off a gallop from lock Ben Gissing to score after 28 minutes. Dwyane Peel replied for the Scarlets with a dart to the corner and his half-back partner Jones’ touchline conversion gave the home side an eight point cushion at the interval. Jones and Felipe Contepomi swapped penalties at the start of the second half, but as soon as Garan Evans had sped way for a second home try after 53 minutes it became one-way traffic. Peel ran in his second, Barry Davies grabbed two and Canadian prop Jon Thiel also got in on the act. Jones made it a full house of six conversions and the Scarlets found themselves leading 51-8. To their credit, the Dubliners didn’t buckle any further and two late tries from replacement John McWeeney earned them some respect.

Llanelli Scarlets V Leinster   P D C T Pos Player Player Pos T C D P   2 FB Barry Davies 15 Girvan Dempsey FB 1 W Garan Evans 14 Shane Horgan W 1 C Mark Taylor 13 Brian O'Driscoll C C Tal Selley 12 Gordon D'Arcy C W Salesi Finau 11 Brendan Burke W 3 6 FH Stephen Jones 10 Felipe Contepomi FH 1 2 SH Dwayne Peel 9 Brian O'Riordan SH P Iestyn Thomas 1 Reggie Corrigan P H Aled Gravelle 2 Shane Byrne H 1 P Jon Thiel 3 Peter Coyle P L Adam Jones 4 Malcolm O'Kelly L L Chris Wyatt 5 Ben Gissing L FL Simon Easterby 6 Victor Costello FL FL Ian Boobyer 7 Niall Ronan FL 8 Dave Hodges 8 Des Dillon 8 Replacements - John Davies 16 Emmett Byrne r r Robin McBryde 17 Gavin Hickie r - Bryn Griffiths 18 Leo Cullen r r Emyr Lewis 19 Aidan McCullen r r Mike Phillips 20 Brian O'Meara r 1 - Gareth Bowen 21 David Quinlan - r Richard Rees 22 John McWeeney rw 2 Penalty Tries 0 0

All Pictures: ©  http://www.inpho.ie/, Huw Evans Agency,  Graham Stuart