Following a 35-22 win for Scarlets against Leinster in the United Rugby Championship (URC), here’s our five takeaways from the game at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.

The top line

Scarlets produced a Herculean effort to beat the mighty Leinster and condemn the runaway URC league leaders to just their second loss of the competition in 2024/25.

Tries from Gareth Davies, Tom Rogers, Taine Plumtree and Joe Roberts, plus points off the tee from Sam Costelow and Ioan Lloyd, sealed a priceless bonus-point success.

This impressive result fires them up the standings to seventh position ahead of a week’s break in the competition, as suddenly their play-off hopes are alive and kicking.

Jamie Osborne, Diarmuid Mangan and James Culhane scored Leinster’s tries on a disappointing night in Llanelli, but the Irish can have no complaints about the result.

Costly rotation

Leinster were always going to rest their Ireland stars ahead of next week’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final with Northampton and, to an extent, they did so last week.

While they boast unbelievable depth and rotating during the season rarely affects URC results, on Saturday this finally caught up with them as they came off second best.

But that won’t mean it doesn’t sting, as this Leinster group expects to win every game it plays in spite of selection. Expect a deep autopsy into this defeat from their coaches.

Credit to Scarlets

Not to do a disservice to Scarlets, far from it, as they fully deserve these five points after their continued improvements were there for all to see in the Welsh evening sun.

Dwayne Peel’s side play such an attractive brand of rugby and look a match for any team at the moment, and this win will give them so much confidence for the URC run-in.

Peel and his troops were rightly jubilant as full-time approaches, and this must feel incredible for a team that was struggling not too long ago as Peel looked under pressure.

Race to Eight boost

With Munster sliding down the table following back-to-back defeats and Edinburgh only drawing at Zebre Parma on Friday, the Scarlets are suddenly in the play-off spots.

Continue playing in this fashion on their URC tour of South Africa to finish the regular season and the region could well wrap up knockout rugby after a late-season push.

On Sunday, May 11 they head to Johannesburg to face the Lions before they end the campaign at the Sharks the following Saturday. Their destiny is in their own hands.

Nienaber frustration

It had all been going swimmingly at Leinster this campaign under the defensive tutelage of former Springboks head coach and Rugby World Cup winner Jacques Nienabar, with their nilling of both Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup knockouts a stunning feat that saw Leinster reach a new level of excellence.

However, footage of Nienaber at half-time in the changing room reading his team the riot act was a far cry from those European victories as Leinster had leaked 22 points.

Things did not improve after the interval either as an early Scarlets scored 13 further points, with this a defensive showing that will no doubt give Nienaber a sleepless night.

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/scarlets-v-leinster-five-takeaways-as-welsh-region-alive-and-kicking-after-shock-win-that-will-give-jacques-nienaber-a-sleepless-night