Celtic League/Leinster 23 Llanelli Scarlets 52:This isn't supposed to happen at home. Just what Irish rugby dreaded: another night of misery.
This was as comprehensive a home defeat as Leinster have suffered since Michael Cheika and David Knox arrived in Dublin. Check that. Leinster haven't capitulated like this since the bad old European days down in France.
This might be week three proper of the Magners Celtic League but with Ireland consigned to the World Cup scrapheap it had a real first-day-of-school feel. The Leinster faithful were back in force, all 12,435, but the opening salvo was miles below the expected standard. Actually, it was abysmal.
If the Llanelli Scarlets had brought their full contingent the errors would have been even more severely punished.
With three minutes on the clock Matthew Watkins crossed for the first try. The winger offloaded to Morgan Stoddart, who did likewise as Fergus McFadden wrapped him up. The fullback found Regan King, who put Watkins clear.
The Scarlets' third-choice outhalf, Rhys Priestland, added the conversion and three well struck penalties before the break.
His opposite number Jonathan Sexton was having a different type of evening with the boot. The St Mary's outhalf skewed his first three kicks at goal before finding a rhythm to complement some decent broken-field play.
Leinster replied to the opening try within seconds as Shane Jennings gathered a clever restart and charged the first tackler. The ball went left quickly and Christian Warner was on hand to touch down.
There were some positives. McFadden, on his competitive home debut, made some incisive runs. Bernard Jackman brought the brawn to complement Keith Gleeson's finesse. But this was all eclipsed by a mountain of handling and technical errors.
Leinster weren't getting much joy out of James Jones, the first non-neutral referee in this competition, but he did send his Welsh compatriot Vernon Cooper to the bin on 31 minutes.
Leinster failed to add points despite the numerical advantage. It was 16-11 at the turn and Cheika's backline options were restricted by an injury to Gary Brown; the coach had only two backs on the bench.
Four minutes into the second half the Scarlets flanker James Bater knocked on with the line at his mercy.
The bigger Llanelli pack were now in control, and the Leinster defence was ripped apart three times in seven minutes to yield 15 points, and the game, to Llanelli.
First there was a try for Bater as Leinster imploded down the left. The next breakout yielded three points for Priestland and a yellow card for Rob Kearney for spoiling under his own posts.
The next raid came down the other flank, openside Jonathon Edwards crossing without a hand laid on him. Priestland missed the kick, albeit from the touchline.
By now the Leinster defence was in tatters. They were also down to 13 men as Jennings was sinbinned for dissent.
King ensured the away bonus point before the hour mark, while Edwards squeezed over near the corner flag for his second try.
James evened up the yellow-card count, Bater the man to walk, and Leinster grabbed two consolation tries: a penalty try after 10 minutes camped on the Llanelli line and a fine effort courtesy of Jamie Heaslip.
But the nightmare wasn't over; Stoddart grabbed another try in the 11th minute of injury time.
"You get punished just like at school and that's where we were taken today," said Cheika.
"You can't play with indiscipline on the ground, contact zone or defence and expect to get away with it."
The mother of all beatings.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: M Watkins try, R Priestland con, 0-7; 4: C Warner try, 5-7; 12: Priestland pen, 7-10; 19: J Sexton pen, 8-10; 22: Priestland pen, 8-13; 30: Sexton pen, 11-13; 32: Priestland pen, 11-16 (half-time 11-16); 49: A Eustace try, Priestland con, 11-23; 52: Priestland pen, 11-26; 56: J Edwards try, 11-31; 59: R King try, Priestland con, 11-38; 61: J Edwards try, 11-43; Priestland con, 11-45; 76: pen try, Sexton con, 18-45; 81: J Heaslip try, 23-45; 90: M Stoddart try, Priestland con, 23-52.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; G Brown, F McFadden, C Warner, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, C Willis; J Gomez, B Jackman, S Knoop; T Hogan, L Cullen (capt); S Jennings, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: R McCarron for Brown (inj, 28 mins), S Wright for Knoop (half-time), C Jowitt for Hogan (inj, 49 mins), S Keogh for Gleeson (56 mins), B Blaney for Jackman (63 mins), C Keane for Willis (71 mins), D Toner for McFadden (76 mins).
LLANELLI SCARLETS: M Stoddart; G Evans, R King, G Evans, M Watkins; R Priestland, L Davies; P John, J Hayter, D Manu; V Cooper, A Eustace; J Bater (capt), J Edwards, D Jones. Replacements: K Owens for J Hayter (half-time), N Brew for G Evans, G Cattle for L Davies (both 48 mins), L Reed for A Eustace (80 mins).
Referee: J Jones (WRU).
