Leinster skipper Jack Conan admits it was a patchy win over Scarlets
Leinster skipper Jack Conan accepted his side had been less than fluid against Scarlets in the URC quarter-final.
Leinster had scored four tries, James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Jamie Osborne and Hugo Keenan crossed for tries while there were a further three penalties providing points.
But each time they had threatened to pull clear the gremlins got in and Scarlets managed to keep in touch.
"We were good in parts," said Conan of the 12-point, 33-21 win, that was maybe closer than expected by most beforehand.
"Our discipline killed us, we gave them a lot of soft penalties. To be fair to Scarlets they stuck at it and battled hard, they're a team with a lot of passion and they pushed us at times.
"We were inaccurate and forced things a little bit. It's good to have another week but there were some frustrating bits there.
"Lads want to have big moments They want to feel like they're doing well, but sometimes there's a bit of over-eagerness and over-zealousness.
"You force things a little bit and get away with things although I thought Hollie [Davidson] was on the money today. I don't think it's anything other than lads trying a bit too hard."
Leinster move on to meet Glasgow Warriors in the URC semi-final having smashed the same opposition 52-0 in the Champions Cup quarter-final on April 11 and then beating then 13-7 in the last round of the URC-proper on May 17.
Continued Conan: "It's strange when you've played a team twice in the past six weeks so it helps with the prep because you know what they're going to do to a degree.
"But it's a little bit different every time you come up against a team. I don't think we were great the last time we played them, we had a good win in Europe, but they had lads coming back in so it'll be a tough test for us."
Scarlets captain Josh Macleod felt the match was still there to be won after the first 40 minutes, not least as they had managed to close the gap to one point just before the break.
"At half-time there was plenty of belief, but I'm extremely proud of the bunch. They're a top group of guys but today we just came up short.
"I think we were the only people in the UK with any sort of belief going into today. The media thought it would be a runaway win for them. We didn't and hopefully for large parts of the game we showed that."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Tale of two provinces: Luke-warm Leinster stumble through as heroic Munster undone by penalties and theatrics
Leinster weren't at their best against Scarlets, but they were still comfortably good enough to earn a United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final date with Glasgow. Leo Cullen's team will again have home advantage for Saturday's meeting with the Scottish side at the Aviva Stadium (2.45pm). However, it was Munster who took their fans on an emotional journey in South Africa, where they fell to Sharks in Kings Park after extra-time and a rancorous penalty shoot-out. It was Munster of old and a performance full of vim and fight against a Springbok-laden home side and a hostile crowd. The outcome was all the more heartbreaking as Munster came close to winning the match, which ended 24-24. The Irish province fell to one missed penalty kick, with Sharks nailing all six of theirs for a 6-4 win. Leinster will plan to put their game face on for an entire 80 minutes against Glasgow. They were never in fear of losing to Scarlets, but still found ways to make it hard for themselves. Afterwards, Leo Cullen dismissed suggestions that the modest attendance of 12,879 had anything to do with Leinster's overall performance in the 33-21 victory . 'No, no, no, no. I don't want to use that at all,' said the Leinster coach. 'We played here in front of empty stadiums in Covid and I would much rather have what we had there today. In no way am I giving out here.' READ MORE He suggested that the timing of the fixture wasn't optimal for supporters, saying: 'There is a reality, a shift. It is outside the norm and we all have our habitual bits to the make-up of our calendar, certain things we do at certain times of the year. We just need to make it more in the public consciousness among people that watch rugby. 'We'll just keep beating the drum. We are asking supporters to come out here again next Saturday. It is short. We had a two-week lead-in and this is one week, so it is more challenging again.' Hugo Keenan scores a try for Leinster during their URC quarter-final win against Scarlets. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho Leinster also have some patching up to do. Both Jack Conan and RG Snyman picked up blood injuries while Josh van der Flier left the pitch in the first half with what appears to be a hamstring injury. 'It looked like it was his hammy, that's the report. So, he felt a bit of tightness again, he was struggling to run it off. Obviously, Scott [Penny] came in there' In Durban, Munster were seething after what looked like a clear attempt to distract Jack Crowley during the penalty shoot-out of their quarter-final with Sharks. Munster selected Crowley, Rory Scannell and Conor Murray for their kicks, while the Sharks chose Jaden Hendrikse, his brother Jordan, and Bradley Davids. I am absolutely devastated for the team, after all that the players had invested in this campaign — Ian Costello As Crowley lined up to take his kick, Jaden Hendrikse fell to the ground by the kicking tee, apparently suffering from cramp. The referee then stepped in, forcing Crowley to stop his routine and wait as Sharks medics treated Hendrikse. Proceedings then ventured into the absurd when television cameras showed the injured player winking as Crowley wandered over. It added to the suspicion that Hendrikse had deliberately collapsed to delay and frustrate the Munster outhalf. Full credit to Crowley, who maintained his composure to make his second kick, but Davids sealed the win for the Sharks, crushing Munster's hopes. Bradley Davids kicks the decisive penalty for Sharks. Photograph: Darren Stewart/Inpho/Steve Haag Sports Afterwards, Crowley and several of his teammates were fuming. They were seen to remonstrate with referee Mike Adamson and the Sharks backroom team for what appeared to be a blatant piece of gamesmanship. It was reminiscent of Tom Williams winking at the Harlequins bench in the infamous Bloodgate incident from a 2009 Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster. 'I am absolutely devastated for the team, after all that the players had invested in this campaign,' said Munster's interim head coach, Ian Costello. [ Matt Williams: Irish rugby should value the URC above the faltering Champions Cup Opens in new window ] 'At the same time, I'm unbelievably proud of the boys, how they stood up against such a good side and that is all the more reason to feel devastated that it had to finish like that.' The unhappy ending to the match also brought a disappointing close to the Munster careers of Murray, Peter O'Mahony and Stephen Archer. Costello added: 'The last week was very special with everyone wanting to play for them. And to see Conor under pressure nailing that kick at the end. . . they have given their everything for Munster and will be sorely missed.' Elsewhere, Glasgow beat Stormers 36-18 in Scotstoun Stadium to set up the meeting with Leinster. Bulls beat Edinburgh 42-33, making it an all-South African affair against Sharks in the other semi-final.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
‘Please turn out in force': Leo Cullen addresses fans after sparse crowd attended Leinster's defeat of Scarlets
Leo Cullen hopes to see a swollen Aviva Stadium on Saturday when Leinster face Glasgow in their United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final (kick-off 2.45pm). A combination of the bank holiday weekend and the end of school and university terms reduced the stadium to a trickle of fans last Saturday. The official attendance for the quarter-final win over Scarlets was 12,879 – about one-quarter of the stadium's capacity. 'It's on Saturday, please turn out in force,' said Cullen after the 33-21 win. 'We would love to see you here in June and get excited about cheering on the team and all the rest, because the players feed off that energy. 'The players are human beings and they want to do well, they want to feel that support behind them. So, for us it's just about dusting ourselves off now.' 'I haven't even talked to the medics,' he said when asked about any injuries that may have been sustained against Scarlets. 'I know a couple of guys went off during the game, so I don't actually have any updates there. We'll see how guys are and build a plan and just get excited. READ MORE 'It's great to be in a semi-final again, but we take nothing for granted. Again, going back to the semi-final we've already lost [to Northampton] , people were looking ahead. Everyone's looking ahead. Everyone is. Supporters, staff were trying to look too far ahead. So, it was a real harsh lesson for us, but [it's about] making sure we learn from that. So, be excited now.' Cullen explained how pleased he was to get through the match on the right side of the scoreboard. He says knock-out matches are all about winning first and performance second, stressing that the majority of the season is a seeding programme for the knock-out phases. He continued: 'We are pleased to get through to the next round. It's great to be in knock-out rugby. You go through the league and it's a seeding process. Scarlets' Taine Plumtree reacts to a decision during last Saturday's URC quarter-final, which Leinster won to set up a semi-final date with Glasgow. Photo: Dan Sheridan/Inpho 'When you finish top, you'd love to go, 'can you hand us the trophy here?'. But unfortunately, that's not the way this competition is geared up. Some teams that are trying to get into the top eight are almost playing cup rugby to get there, whereas when you have already qualified and are guaranteed top spot, it can make those couple of games leading into the knock-out game a bit tricky because you don't have the jeopardy aspect.' Cullen added that he was pleased with the way Leinster reacted at half-time against Scarlets. Having started the match sharply and scored two early tries through James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park, Scarlets came back into contention and were just one point behind, with the score 15-14 at the break. 'It's a big moment before half-time because we are on their line. If you look at it, there are multiple Scarlets players that are offside, but we play and we don't execute, so there's stuff in our control,' said Cullen. 'And then they go the length of the field. In a perfect world it gets refereed and you have a penalty there. We're eight points clear at that stage, so we'd go into half-time 11 points up. Instead, it's one point and you're like, 'ugh'. 'You have to deal with stuff that's there. Some of it is out of your control. You're seeing lots of games coming down to some moments. We have to do our bit well and just find a way sometimes because it can be unorthodox. 'Overall, we are pleased to get through. We will just build a plan now for next week and recover well. We're into June rugby. The season goes on.'
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
TV View: Be it the Champions League or URC, some days it really is like using Ferraris to spread silage
By the time the shoot-out in Durban was over, Paris Saint-Germain were already 2-0 up in Munich. That was annoying to miss because you only have one Champions League final a year, whereas the United Rugby Championship (URC) never ends. But it was impossible to leave the concluding stages of the Sharks v Munster contest, partly because it was brutally riveting, partly because you wanted to be sure that Jaden Hendrikse recovered from the cramp that laid the poor fella low, delaying Jack Crowley's shoot-out turn by a couple of minutes. And partly because, after he winked at Crowley, you needed to know if the Munster man had kicked Hendrikse between the posts. Alan Quinlan thought the behaviour of Hendrikse and some of his colleagues was 'shocking', our Premier Sports host Ross Harries describing it as 'pretty unsavoury'. But Stephen Ferris and Simon Zebo loved it, Stephen especially. 'We want more of this. It's more hits on social media, it gets a bigger viewership, that's what we want.' But the upshot was, despite all the social media hits, Munster's season was done and dusted , the one relief being that Hendrikse had sufficiently recovered from his excruciating cramp to be able to dance around the Kings Park in celebration minutes later like there was no tomorrow. Lazarus, that lad. READ MORE On to the semi-finals Leinster go, though. Not an entirely convincing display against the Scarlets at the Aviva, granted, but anyone who tuned in late to RTÉ would have thought from Jamie Heaslip and Donncha O'Callaghan's post-match summing up that Leinster had been Northamptonised and were out. 'The Monday review will not be good,' Heaslip sighed, O'Callaghan feeling for the small crowd that bothered to turn up. They would, he said, have been more entertained if 'a load of bouncy castles had been put out there', with 'first communions jumping on them'. 'It was bad, it was really bad.' Why so? Well, he reckoned 'management' had a lot to answer for. 'You have players like Jordie Barrett, one of the greatest to ever play the game, you have the likes of Hugo Keenan and James Lowe, and all we're seeing is them kicking the ball. It's like having Ferraris and using them to spread silage.' PSG captain Marquinhos raises the Champions League trophy after his side's 5-0 win over Inter Milan in Munich. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA As it happened, Simone Inzaghi got much the same criticism as Leo Cullen; the Italian press, in so many words, accusing the Inter boss of being a silage-spreading Ferrari-misuser after Inter Milan's 5-0 thumping by PSG . 'È come avere delle Ferrari e usarle per spargere l'insilato,' according to Google Translate, which sounds much more like a declaration of love than savage castigation. Now there were those who billed this final as Qatar Saint-Germain v Oaktree Capital Management Milan. That would have been accurate enough, although some of the same folk would have billed Saudi Newcastle's League Cup triumph this season as a 'fairytale'. No matter, most of us tie ourselves in knots these days trying to justify savouring the sporting unjustifiable, instead opting to swoon over performances like the one young lad Désiré Doué produced in Munich on Saturday night. 'I got chills,' Rio Ferdinand said when Doué set up Achraf Hakimi's opening goal, and they were multiplying by the time Doué scored twice himself. Darren Fletcher thought it was all over at 3-0, which prompted a cheeky grin from Steven Gerrard. But it was indeed as good as over, two more goals wrapping up Inter's humiliation. 'This,' Ferdinand said, 'has been a butcherin'.' 'Absoluuuuuuly,' Ally McCoist agreed. 'La débâcle,' Italy's La Stampa described it, going all multilingual on us, France's L'Équipe giving Doué a decidedly rare 10 out of 10, and Inzaghi a barbaric two. And to top it all, the reports from Italy said that just one Inter fan – Marco – turned up at the airport to welcome Inter home. 'I'm the only idiot,' he said, his team on course for a quadruple a handful of weeks ago, their season ending trophyless. 'Some might say this is a win for football,' Ferdinand said, finding romance where there really was no romance at all. Like he'd just watched, say, Cowdenbeath FC slay Real Madrid, rather than a club that had a couple of billion pumped in to it, since Qatar took the reigns, finally breaking its European duck. Which leaves us on the couch having to blank out the grimness of the state of today's sportswashery, so we can purr at the likes of Doué, Vitinha, João Neves, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. It's a bit like stepping over the silage to take your Ferrari for a ride.
