Champions flex their muscles

Leinster added weight to their Magners League title defence claims as they beat the Scarlets 31-17 on Saturday.

The Irish Province took control of the match early on as they raced into a 20-0 lead after only 26 minutes with tries from winger Isikeli Nacewa and flanker Cameron Jowitt.

The Scarlets had to play without Wales quartet Stephen Jones, Mark Jones, Matthew Rees and Dafydd Jones, but they hit back either side of the break with tries by scrum-half Martin Roberts and prop Deacon Manu.

However, Leinster showed why they are defending champions as they ensured they had the last word with skipper Shane Jennings going over.

Felipe Contepomi also hit a late penalty to take the tally of points from his boot up to 16 for the game in a telling contribution.

He put them in front as early as the third minute but Scarlets had the first real opportunity to score after Jonathan Davies and Regan King sent Morgan Stoddart away down the left, only for Fergus McFadden to bundle him into touch.

Two quick tries

But Contepomi doubled the lead on 18 minutes after Scarlets were caught offside, and they lost Regan shortly after with a hamstring injury before the Irish stunned them with two tries in the space of three minutes.

First Nacewa finished off a sweeping move down the left after the Welsh lost possession in their opponents' 22, before Rees Priestland saw his clearance charged down by Girvan Dempsey, with Jowitt on hand to capitalise.

Priestland made amends of sorts by kicking the Scarlets onto the scoresheet with half an hour gone and two minutes later Roberts halved the lead with a converted try.

But five minutes before the break Leinster extended the advantage once again via a Contepomi penalty, giving them a 23-10 lead at the break.

Priestland was off target twice early in the second period and more points went begging when Gavin Evans ignored an overlap outside him and his effort came to nothing.

However, Scarlets continued to press and they crossed for the first time after 53 minutes as Manu squeezed over and this time Priestland made no mistake with the extras.

But that was as good as it got for the Welsh, Jennings finishing off a long range effort in the 62nd minute and Contepomi scored with a penalty four minutes later following an errant conversion attempt.

But he ended the game in the sin-bin after committing a professional foul and Scarlets thought they had grabbed a try back when Johnathan Davies went over in the left corner, but it was ruled out by the television referee for a foot in touch.