3 days ago
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."
