Dwayne Peel and Scarlets had a clear plan to disrupt Leinster on Saturday and it worked very effectively as the Welsh region gave their play-off hopes a massive shot in the arm with an unexpected victory.
They gave Leinster a taste of their own medicine with strong defensive pressure. They targeted the Leinster forward pod that they run off their out-half, Ross Byrne in this instance. Scarlets focused on five players to stop the pod that Leinster use to give their attack serious momentum.
They put pressure on Byrne, the three forwards outside him, and they had a clear tactic to angle in on the back that hangs around behind the forwards. Usually a centre, that back pulls the strings and generally communicates with the out-half to recognise space and execute their attacking gameplan.
By shutting off those options, Leinster weren't sure which way to go. Taine Plumtree picked off an intercept in the first half by rushing outside Byrne, who tried to play the ball to his support runner behind the back of Plumtree.
However Plumtree was able to stop and react, even with the quick line speed that he was using to pressurise Byrne. His athleticism helped to turn defence into attack and score an early try for the eventual winners.
Scarlets also used an array of kicks to unsettle Leinster. They collected several contestable box kicks which allowed them to manage territory later on in the game when they had a foothold. Tom Rogers gathered one box kick that was kicked from deep in their half, which gave Gareth Davies a second chance to exit and move Leinster back the pitch to where they are deemed less dangerous in attack.
What was surprising is that Leinster played a lot more rugby in their own half. When they picked up kicks in the back field, they made errors at times by trying to play out from deep. It played into Scarlets hands and gave them a platform to finish the game off.
They also used crossfield kick passes to beat the Leinster rush defence. Rogers scored in the first half from a crossfield kick, and a second kick in the final quarter was hacked on by Plumtree, who turned Byrne over near his own line. It was a chance to put the game to bed but Marnus van der Merwe was brilliantly turned over by Ryan Baird to keep Leinster in the game.
Scarlets lead Leinster 22-15 at half-time in their URC encounter, with Diarmuid Mangan scoring the visitors' second try #URC #SCAvLEI pic.twitter.com/xZ0clE9lwo
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 26, 2025
Davies showed all of his experience, executing the kicking plan to a tee. He kicked wedge-type kicks over the ruck into the middle of the Leinster back field. That was certainly a plan that came from their analysis and pre-game preparation, knowing how the Leinster back field works, leaving space in the middle of the park.
He kicked there three times, with mixed results for Ciaran Frawley. Frawley exited poorly from the first one, which gave momentum to Scarlets in the second half. Another one ran too long into the dead ball area but it still deadened the game at a time when Scarlets were in the ascendancy. Frawley showed his strength to deal with the third one, fighting off Scarlets players when isolated to buy time for his support players.
Leinster didn’t manage the game well. They had more than 15 handling errors throughout, with 12 handling errors by the 60th minute. The game finished on a knock-on when Leinster were trying to claw back a losing bonus point, which summed up their attacking effort. They had really positive attacks, derailed by passes into touch, spilled offloads and knock-ons.
They also mismanaged their lineout at key moments in the second half. Leinster had ample possession and opportunities to chase down the Scarlets. They even crossed the line late on through Alex Soroka, who was deemed to crawl into a double movement. It was a close call, but a fair one, again summing up the frustration felt by Leinster.
It was one of those days where they couldn’t get into their usual rhythm. The Scarlets must take a lot of credit for how they approached the game.
Realistically, Leinster went deeper into their squad when it came to selection, but they still had a team littered with internationals and would have been confident of getting the job done in Wales.
While Scarlets challenged Leinster’s attack, they won the aerial battle and kicked very cleverly to beat the Leinster defence. Leinster would have won that game with different personnel, even with the same Scarlets plan.
It comes down to a couple of moments - winning contestable box kicks, attack and defensive decision-making and little battles that are simply won by your best quality players.
For example, RG Snyman has been a revelation for Leinster, drawing multiple defenders and still finding an offload. Scarlets may not have been able to pressure the Leinster pod if one of that pod was Snyman.
Nevertheless, it was a well-deserved win and a cleverly executed game strategy from Peel and his Scarlets team.
Their win now has a knock-on effect on the other Irish provinces with Munster, Ulster and Connacht outside the play-off places.
With two rounds to go, Scarlets and Cardiff are both in the top eight and Welsh rugby is looking a lot healthier, whereas Leinster are the sole Irish team flying the flag at the top of the league. All eyes will be on Munster versus Ulster next Friday night.
Watch the Champions Cup semi-final, Leinster v Northampton Saints, on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
