Leinster grab late draw

Leinster scored two tries in the final 10 minutes to earn a 17-17 draw at Scarlets in the Magners League.

The clash at Parc y Scarlets was the evening's only top-flight fixture to escape the freeze, but the rain teeming down in west Wales made it a pretty miserable night for supporters.

The home fans' mood will not have been improved by watching their side miss out on a chance to go top of the table thanks to the visitors' late fightback.

The Scarlets looked certain to seal victory after opening up a 17-5 lead, only for Leinster to grab a draw thanks to late tries from Fergus McFadden and Shane Horgan.

Rhys Priestland knocked over four out of five penalties for Scarlets, with Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton missing two penalties and two conversions, before slotting over the final conversion which levelled the match.

Right at the end it looked as if Sexton would have a chance at a drop-goal to win it, but he knocked the ball on.

Despite the rainy conditions the Scarlets thought they had scored a try after only 65 seconds when Morgan Stoddart chased down a kick ahead, but on the intervention of the TV match official the score was disallowed due to Horgan getting to the ball before the Scarlets wing.

But the Scarlets did go into a fourth minute lead when Priestland put over his first penalty from a line-out infringement.

Leinster did not have much territory, but they made the most of a Sexton cross kick which Horgan passed back for centre Eoin O'Malley to race over for the only try of the half.

Either side of a flare-up following a high tackle on Dan Newton by Sean O'Brien, Priestland put two penalties over on 26 and 35 minutes to give the Scarlets a 9-5 half-time lead.

In control

The Scarlets looked in control at the start of the second half with Sexton missing two penalties and Rhys Ruddock sin-binned for dangerous play at a ruck.

With Ruddock off the pitch, Scarlets centre Gareth Maule scored in the left corner and looked to have wrapped the match up for the hosts.

But after Priestland missed a penalty from halfway, Leinster applied the pressure and it brought its rewards as McFadden finished well in the right corner and Horgan followed him over five minutes later.

The Scarlets' frustrations at their failure to secure the win were compounded when props Deacon Manu and Peter Edwards both suffered what appeared to be serious arm injuries.