Blues and Sexton play it nice and safe

THAT’LL do. Leinster last night recorded a perfunctory win to keep their Magners League play-off hopes firmly on message while Jonathan Sexton came through a useful 80 minutes unscathed.

Everyone a winner, then.

The one blot was the early departure of Leo Cullen with a reported groin strain, although Leinster coach Joe Schmidt was upbeat about his chances of featuring against Wales next weekend.

Cullen aside, it was a largely worry-free evening for the hosts, who had Sexton kicking six from six and a third Irish international, Fergus McFadden, also reporting for an effective 80-minute stint in the centre.

Much was made of the fact that Sexton was even picked for this fixture given the amount of rugby he has played recently but this was a must-win tie for third-placed Leinster against the club directly below them in the table.

Leinster opened up a 10-0 lead by the mid-point of the first-half but had done little to deserve it and instead owed their cushion to the failings of their opponents and to Rhys Priestland in particular.

Like Sexton, the Welsh out-half had been released from international duties for the game and, though he kept his back-line moving smoothly enough, he was guilty of a number of basic errors that let his team down.

Three missed attempts at goal, none of them overly-difficult and one of them from a drop goal, were bad enough but any kicker can have an off-day. The fluffed attempt at a tackle on Niall Morris five minutes in was less forgivable.

Morris’ hand-off left the 10 sprawled on the ground and allowed the Leinster wing to canter unmolested over the line. Sexton’s conversion added to the punishment and two penalties followed from the Irish out-half.

Priestland finally found his kicking boots after 28 minutes to leave it 10-3 to the hosts, whose own line was never once placed in any serious danger of being breached in that spell despite the ample amount of possession enjoyed by the Scarlets.

Leinster played on the front foot to a much greater extent after the restart and, though they probed inside the Scarlets 22 on a number of occasions, they never made it over the line that really mattered in the third quarter.

They didn’t have to.

Nigel Davies’ side were pinged three times inside 15 minutes for transgressions at the ruck and all three were at a distance and an angle that left Sexton with little to do in stretching the lead out to a very comfortable 19-3.

That deficit was reduced to nine points with just under a quarter left to play when a break from the back of the Scarlets scrum by number eight Ben Morgan fell inches short of the Leinster line and Rhys Thomas arrived to finish the job from close range.

Priestland’s subsequent conversion from the touchline was sublime and begged the question as to why he couldn’t perform more mundane tasks earlier — but Isaac Boss’ try and Sexton’s sixth successful kick 12 minutes later negated the damage.

There was still time for Nick Reynolds to claim the Welsh side’s second try as the game opened up towards the end but Leinster finished the evening having leapfrogged the Ospreys into second place in the table.

Until later today at any rate.

Scorers for Leinster: N Morris, I Boss try each, J Sexton 2 cons, 4 pens.

Scorers for Scarlets: R Thomas, N Reynolds try each, R Priestland con, pen.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; N Morris, E O’Malley, F McFadden, D Kearney; J Sexton, I Boss; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, S Wright; L Cullen, D Toner; K McLaughlin, D Ryan, R Ruddock.

Replacements: N Hines for Cullen (24); S Shawe for Wright (64); J Harris-Wright for Strauss (77); P Ryan for D Ryan (77).

SCARLETS: D Newton; G North, R King, G Maule (capt), J Ajua; R Priestland, T Knoyle; R Jones, R Lawrence, R Thomas; L Reed, A Shingler; R McCusker, J Turnbull, B Morgan.

Replacements: G Davies for Knoyles (51); N Reynolds for Ajuwa (51); J Edwards for Turnbull (59); K Myhill for Lawrence (69); S Gardiner for Thomas (64); D Welch for Reed (64) D Evans for Newtown (64).

Referee: A MacPherson (Scotland).

- LEIGH HALFPENNY kicked Edinburgh to their fifth straight Magners league defeat, with three penalties and a conversion of Chris Czekaj’s try seeing Cardiff over the line in a 16-11 victory at Murrayfield.

A late fight-back from Edinburgh proved valiant enough to secure a bonus point but Tim Visser’s last-gasp try and two David Blair penalties were unable to halt their losing streak.

Full-back Czekaj crossed for the game’s first try, played in by a fantastic offload from Xavier Rush. Halfpenny converted, adding to an earlier penalty to send Cardiff in at half-time with a 10-0 lead. Blair and Halfpenny kicked two second-half penalties each before Visser secured his side a losing bonus point, evading Halfpenny’s desperate tackle to slide over.

Scorers for Edinburgh: T Visser try; D Blair 2 pens.

Scorers for Cardiff Blues: C Czekaj try; L Halfpenny con, 3 pens.