Leo Cullen thrilled Tadhg Furlong is back in Ireland frame

Leinster's Tadhg Furlong is tackled by Phil Price and Sam Lousi of Scarlets. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Hiscott

Leo Cullen is hopeful Tadhg Furlong can play a big part in Ireland’s Six Nations campaign after making his comeback in Leinster’s 52-23 demolition job on the Scarlets in Wales.

The Ireland prop played his first game since packing down against England in the Six Nations 11 months ago after suffering with calf and hamstring issues.

Despite only playing the first-half, the 28-year-old was quietly effective and gave the Scarlets a torrid time at the set-piece.

And Cullen was delighted with the performance of his star prop ahead of next Sunday’s Six Nations opener against Wales at the Principality Stadium.

“It was great to have Tadhg back as he’s a proper world class player and you can see the impact he has,” he said.

“It was always the plan to take him off at half-time. He was definitely nervous beforehand as it had been such a long time.

“It’s been a hugely frustrating period for him, and over the last few weeks he’s done all the hard work. From our point of view, we are really happy with how he went in that 40 minutes and he’ll keep building. Hopefully, he can join up with the Irish squad now and play a big part over the next couple of months.”

Leinster’s pack proved too strong for the Scarlets with their driving lineout and accuracy behind the scrum pushing them back to the top of the PRO14.

The visitors crossed for seven tries in total courtesy of Dan Leavy, James Tracy, Cian Kelleher, Luke McGrath, Max O’Reilly, and David Hawkshaw.

They also scored a penalty try with Harry Byrne contributing 17 points from the kicking tee.

All Glenn Delaney’s side could muster were three tries, from Dane Blacker, Tom Homer, and Angus O’Brien, while Sam Costelow kicked eight points. Leinster started strongly when Leavy powered his way over the line from short range.

But the Scarlets hit straight back when a terrific pass from Costelow sent former Springbok No 8 Uzair Cassiem charging through a gap. Cassiem galloped into the 22 before executing a looping pass which found Blacker for the try.

That was as good as it got for the Scarlets as Leinster’s pack dominated territory and possession thereafter. Leinster’s maul was a big weapon with Tracy scoring their second off the back of a driving lineout while it also earned them a penalty try.

The visitors secured a try bonus point at the stroke of half-time when Kelleher brushed off weak tackle attempts from Costelow and Ryan Conbeer to touch down at the far right-hand corner.

Skipper Luke McGrath, full-back Max O’Reilly and replacement centre David Hawkshaw ran in three more tries after the break, all of which Byrne converted, to take them through the half-century mark. Scarlets replacements Homer and O’Brien scored late consolation tries but it was too little too late for the west Walians.

Scorers for Scarlets: Tries: D Blacker 19, T Homer 63, A O’Brien 78; Conversions: S Costelow 20, A O’Brien 78; Penalties: S Costelow 3, 34

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: D Leavy 17, J Tracy 23, Penalty try 36, C Kelleher 40, L McGrath 54, M O’Reilly 67, D Hawkshaw 74; Conversions: H Byrne 18, 24, 40, 55, 68, 75; Penalties: H Byrne 31

SCARLETS: J McNicholl, T Prydie, T Morgan, S Hughes, R Conbeer (P Asquith 68); S Costelow (A O’Brien 61), D Blacker (W Homer 61); P Price (Mathias 34), M Jones, J Sebastian (W Kruger 61), M Jones (T Davies 57), S Lousi (C Tuipulotu 65), B Thomson, D Davis (T Ratuva 56), U Cassiem.

LEINSTER: M O’Reilly ; C Kelleher, L Turner (J Osborne 45), C Frawley (D Hawkshaw 72), D Kearney; H Byrne, L McGrath (H O’Sullivan 68); P Dooley, J Tracy (E Byrne 55), T Furlong (T Clarkson 41), R Molony, R Baird, J Murphy, D Leavy, J Conan (T Clarkson 61).

Replacements not used: S Cronin, J Dunne, S Fardy.

Referee: Mike Adamson